
Book , [^ <^ S 3 
Copyright^? i-9 1 3 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSE 



LAWS 

of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

Relating to 

QUALIFICATION AND REGISTRATION 

OF VOTERS. 

POLITICAL COMMITTEES. 

PRIMARIES AND CAUCUSES. 

CONVENTIONS AND THE 

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES. 



WITH AN APPENDIX 

Containing Information Relative to 

ELECTION DISTRICTS, NATURALIZATION, ETC. 



i9*3 



Compiled by 
RICHARD L. GAY 
6 Beacon Street, Boston 































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# J«r 



Copyright 1913, b«y Richard L. Gay. 

©CI.A3524 



EXPLANATORY NOTE 



This Compilation gives either in full or in abstract all the 
Election Laws of Massachusetts as codified in 1913. It covers 
all the provisions of law now in force relating to qualifications, 
assessment and registration of voters, political committees, 
caucuses and primaries, conventions, nomination papers, and 
the filing of papers necessary to insure the placing of a candi- 
date's name on the official ballot for use at elections. 

In the Appendix will be found an abstract of so much of 
the Federal naturalization law as will be of interest to 
applicants for naturalization, a list of the election districts 
of Massachusetts, and political calendars relating to State 
and City elections for the current year. 

The compiler is indebted to Arthur P. Gay, Esq., of the 
Boston Bar for editorial assistance, and to William Nelson, 
Esq., Deputy Clerk of the United States District Court, and 
James Farrell, Esq., Chief United .States Naturalization 
Examiner, for valuable suggestions in preparing the matter 
on naturalization. 



TERMS DEFINED. 
Chapter 835. 
An Act to Codify the Laws Relative to Prim- 
aries, Caucuses and Elections. 



GENERAL PROVISIONS. 
Definition of Terms. 

Section 1. Terms used in this chapter and in statutes rel- 
ative to primaries, caucuses or elections shall be construed as 
follows, unless other meaning is clearly apparent from lan- 
guage or context, or unless such construction is LnooiiBistenl 
with the manifest intent of the legislature: 

"Aldermen" shall include the boards or officials having the 
powers of aldermen in a city which does not have a board 
of aldermen. 

"Assessors" shall mean the assessors of taxes of a city or 
town. 

"Caucus" shall apply to any public meeting of the voters 
of a precinct, ward, or town, held under the provisions of 
this act relating to caucuses. 

"Caucus officers" shall apply to chairmen, wardens, secre- 
taries, clerks, and inspectors, and, when on duty, to addi- 
tional officers appointed or elected, or elected to fill a vacancy, 
and taking part in the conduct of caucuses. 

"City election" shall apply to any election held in a city 
for the choice of a city officer by the voters whether for ■ 
full term or for the filling of a vacancy. 

"City officer" shall apply to any person to be chosen by 
the voters at a city election. 

"Convention" shall apply only to a meeting of delegates 
duly chosen in primaries or caucuses, representing two or 
more subdivisions of the district for which the convention is 
held. 

"Election" shall apply to the taking of a vote upon a pro- 
posed amendment to the constitution; upon the question of 
4 



TERMS DEFINED. 

granting licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors; and 
upon any other question by law submitted to the voters. 

"Election officer" shall apply to wardens, clerks, inspectors 
and ballot clerks, and to their deputies when on duty, and 
also to selectmen, town clerks, moderators and tellers when 
taking part in the conduct of elections. 

"Elective office" shall apply to any office to be filled by 
the voters at any state, city or town election. 

"Municipal party" shall apply to a party other than a po- 
litical party which at the preceding city or town election 
polled for mayor or a selectman at least three per cent, of 
the entire vote cast in the city or town for that office or, in a 
city, which files with the city clerk, at least sixty days be- 
fore the annual municipal election, a petition to be allowed 
to place nominations of such party on the official ballot, 
which petition is signed in person by a number of registered 
voters of the city equal to at least three per cent, of the en- 
tire vote polled in the city for mayor at the preceding elec- 
tion, and so far as municipal elections are concerned, such a 
party shall also be deemed a political party within the mean- 
ing of this chapter; but the term "municipal party" shall be 
used only with reference to primaries or caucuses for the 
nomination of city or town officers. 

"Official ballot" shall mean a ballot prepared for any pri- 
mary, caucus or election by public authority and at public 
expense. 

"Political committee," under the provisions of this act rela- 
tive to corrupt practices, shall apply to every committee or 
combination of three or more persons who shall aid or pro- 
mote the success or defeat of a political party or principle 
in a public election, or shall aid or take part in the nomina- 
tion, election or defeat of a candidate for public office. The 
term "Political committee" otherwise shall apply only to a 
committee elected in pursuance of this act. 

"Political convention" shall apply only to a convention called 
and held in pursuance of this act. 
5 



TERMS DEFINED. 

"Political party"' shall apply to a party which at the pre- 
ceding annual state election polled for governor at least three 
per cent, of the entire vote cast in the commonwealth for that 
office, but when a candidate for governor receives two or 
more nominations for that office, "political party" shall for 
the purpose of determining the status of the parties making 
such nominations be denned as a political party which at the 
preceding primary held for the nomination of candidates for 
state offices nominated such candidate and polled for nomina- 
tion for governor at least three per cent, of the entire vote 
cast in said primary in the commonwealth for nomination 
for that office. 

"Polling place" shall apply to a room or place provided by 
a city or town for a primary, caucus or election. 

"Presiding officer" shall apply to the warden or chairman at 
a caucus, to the warden, chairman of the selectmen, modera- 
tor, moderator pro tempore or town clerk in charge of a poll- 
ing place at a primary or election, or to a justice of the 
peace acting as moderator at a town meeting; or, in the ab- 
sence of any such officer, to the deputy warden or the clerk 
or senior inspector or senior selectmen present who shall have 
charge of a polling place. 

"Primary" shall apply to a joint meeting of political or 
municipal parties held under the provisions of this act re- 
lating to primaries. 

"Primary officers" shall apply to all election officers when 
taking part in the conduct of primaries. 

"Registrars" shall mean the board of registrars of voters 
of a city or town or the board of election commissioners of 
the city of Boston, when applicable. 

"State election" shall apply to any election held for the 
choice of a national, state, district or county officer by the 
voters, whether for a full term or for the filling of a vacancy. 

"State officer" shall apply to any person to be chosen at a 
state election. 

"Town election" shall apply to any meeting held for the 
6 



TEEMS DEFINED. ETC. 

election of town officers by the voters, whether for a full term 
or for the filling of a vacancy. 

•'Town elections or meetings at which official ballots are 
used" shall be construed to mean town elections or meetings 
in towns to which section four hundred and thirty-two ap- 
plies. 

"Town officer" shall apply to any person to be chosen at a 
town meeting. 

"Two leading political parties" shall apply to the political 
parties which elect the highest and next highest number of 
members of the general court at the preceding annual state 
election. 

"Voter" shall mean a registered male voter. 

Result of Elections — How Determined. 

Section 2". In all elections of civil officers by the people, 
the person receiving the highest number of votes for an office 
shall be deemed and declared to be elected to such office; and 
if tAvo or more persons are to be elected to the same office, 
the several persons, to the number to be chosen to such office, 
receiving the highest number of votes, shall be deemed and 
declared to be elected; but persons receiving the same number 
of votes shall not be deemed to be elected if thereby a greater 
number would be elected than are by law to be chosen. 

Section 3. All elections in cities which by charter or stat-. 
ute are to be held on a Monday, shall be held on the Tuesday 
next succeeding such Monday. 

Sundays and Holidays. 
Section 4. In computing the period of time prescribed in 
any statute relating to primaries, caucuses or elections, Sun- 
days and holidays shall generally be included; but when the 
last day of such period falls on a Sunday or on a holiday 
the succeeding day shall be considered the final day of such 
period; and when the first day of such period falls on a Sun- 
day or on a holiday, the day preceding shall be considered 
the first day of the period. Whenever the day of the week 
7 



ELECTION COMMISSIONERS, ETC. 

designated for a primary, caucus or election falls upon a 
holiday, said primary, caucus or election shall be held on the 
day succeeding said holiday. 

Section 5. Provides that employees shall be allowed time 
for voting. 

Section 6. Prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquors on 
election days. 

Section 7. Provides for posting lists, notices and copies of 
laws relating to elections. 

Election Commissioners in Boston. 

Section 8. All the powers and duties relating to primaries 
or elections by law vested in and imposed upon the mayor 
and aldermen or either of them, the city clerk or the board 
of registrars of voters in cities, excepting the power and duty 
of giving notice of elections, and fixing the days and hours 
of holding the same, shall, in the city of Boston, bo vested 
in and performed by the board of election commissioners of 
f*aid city, who shall be subject to all penalties prescribed for 
failure to perform the said duties. 

Section 9. The board of aldermen of a city, in Boston the 
election commissioners, or the selectmen of a town, may make 
regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this act 
relative to the use of ballot boxes and seals, counting and 
other apparatus, the receiving of ballots and the counting and 
returning of votes. 

Criminal Prosecutions. 

Section 10. If. in a criminal prosecution for the violation 
of any law relating to the assessment, qualification or regis- 
tration of voters, or to voting lists or ballots or matters per- 
taining thereto, the defendant relies upon the invalidity, in- 
formality or irregularity of such- assessment, qualification or 
registration, or of such voting lists or ballots, or matters per- 
taining thereto, he shall prove such invalidity, irregularity, 
or informality: and until such proof, the presumption shall 
be that such assessment, qualification or registration, or such 
8 



CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS. 

voting lists or ballots or matters pertaining thereto, are valid, 
formal and regular, and in accordance with law; but the va- 
lidity, regularity or formality of such assessment, qualifica- 
tion or registration of voters, or of such voting lists or bal- 
lots, or matters pertaining thereto, may be proved in any 
other legal manner. 

Section 11. If, in a criminal prosecution for the violation 
of any law relating to primaries, caucuses or elections or mat- 
ters pertaining thereto, the defendant relies upon the inva- 
lidity, irregularity or informality of any primary, caucus or 
election, or upon the failure or neglect of any officer or per- 
son to do any act in relation to any primary, caucus or elec- 
tion or matters pertaining thereto, he shall prove such in- 
validity, irregularity, informality, failure or neglect; and 
until such proof, the presumption shall be that such primary, 
caucus or election or matters pertaining thereto were valid, 
regular and formal, and that such officer or person acted as 
prescribed by law. The testimony of the clerk of the city 
or town, or in Boston the election commissioners, wherein it 
is alleged that such election was held, or of the presiding offi- 
cer, secretary, or clerk of such primary or caucus, that such 
primary, caucus or election was actually held, shall be prima 
facie evidence that the same was regularly and duly held, 
but the validity, regularity or formality of such primary, 
caucus or election or matters pertaining thereto may also be 
proved in any other legal manner. 

Qualification of Voters. 

Section 12. Every male citizen of twenty-one years of age 
or upwards, not being a pauper or person under guardianship, 
who is able to read the constitution of the commonwealth in 
the English language, and to write his name, and who has re- 
sided within the commonwealth one year, and within the city 
or town in which he claims a right to vote, six calendar 
months last preceding a state, city or town election, may 
have his name entered upon the list of voters in such city or 
town, and shall have the right to vote therein in any such 



QUALIFICATIONS OF VOTERS. 

election or in any meeting held for the transaction of town 
affairs upon complying with the requirements hereinafter set 
forth; and, except as above provided, no male person shall 
have his name entered upon the list of voters or have the 
right to vote, except that no person who is prevented from 
reading or writing as aforesaid by a physical disability, or 
who had the right to vote on the first day of May in the year 
eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall, if otherwise qualified, 
be deprived of the right to vote by reason of not being able 
so to read or write; and no person who, having served in the 
army or navy of the United States in the time of war, has 
been honorably discharged from such service, if otherwise 
qualified to vote, shall be disqualified therefor on account of 
receiving or having received aid from any city or town ; and 
further, no person, otherwise qualified to vote for national 
or state officers shall, by reason of a change of residence with- 
in the commonwealth, be disqualified from voting for such 
officers in the city or town from which he has removed his 
residence until the expiration of six calendar months from 
the time of such removal. 

Section 13. Every female citizen having the qualifications 
of a male voter required by the preceding section may have 
her name entered upon the list of voters for school commit- 
tee, and shall have the right to vote for members of the 
school committee upon complying with the requirements here- 
inaftor set forth. 

vSection 14. A person qualified to vote in a city or town 
divided into wards or voting precincts shall be registered and 
be entitled to vote in the ward or voting precinct in which 
he resided on the first day of April preceding tho election, or 
if he became an inhabitant of such city or town after such 
first day of April, in tho ward or voting precinct in which he 
first became a resident. 

Assessment of Poll Taxes and Lists of Persons Assessed. 

Section 15. The assessors, assistant assessors, or one or 
more of them, shall annually, in April or May, visit every 

10 



ASSESSMENTS. 

building in their respective cities and towns, and, after dili- 
gent inquiry, shall niake true lists containing, as nearly as 
they can ascertain, the name, age, occupation and residence, 
on the first day of April in the current year, and the residence 
on the first day of April in the preceding year, of every male 
person twenty years of age or upwards, residing in their re- 
spective cities and towns, liable to be assessed for a poll tax; 
and, except in Boston, shall inquire at the residences of the 
women voters whose names are contained in the list trans- 
mitted to them by the registrars under the provisions of sec- 
tion forty-four whether such women voters are resident 
thereat, and shall thereupon make true lists of the women 
voters found by them. 

Any inmate of the Soldiers' Home in the city of Chelsea 
shall have the same right as any other resident of that city 
to be assessed and to vote therein. 

The assessors shall, upon the personal application of an 
assessed person for the correction of any error in their origi- 
nal lists, and whenever informed of any such error, make due 
investigation, and, upon proof thereof, correct the same on 
their books. When informed of the omission of the name of 
a person who is averred to have lived in the city or town on 
the first day of April in the current year, and to have been 
assessed there in the preceding year, they shall make due in- 
vestigation, and, upon proof thereof, supply the omission on 
their books, and, except in Boston, give immediate notice 
thereof to the registrars of voters. They shall cause all ap- 
plications, certificates and affidavits received by them under 
this section to be preserved for two years. 

Sections 16-18. Relate to the duties of assessors in the 
preparation and transmission to the registrars of the lists of 
persons assessed, except in Boston. 

Section 19. If a male person resident in a city or town, ex- 
cept Boston, on the first day of April was not assessed for a 
11 



ASSESSMENTS. 

poll tax, he shall, in order to establish his right to assessment, 
present to the assessors before the close of registration a 
statement under oath that he was on said day a resident of 
such city or town and liable to pay a poll tax therein, and a 
list under oath of his polls and estate, and shall also produce 
before the assessors two witnesses, who shall testify, nndel 
oath, that they are voters of the ward or town in which such 
person desires to be registered and that the statement of the 
applicant is true. 

A male* person who becomes a resident of a city or town, 
except Boston, after the first day of April and desires to be 
registered as a voter shall present to the assessors a state- 
ment under oath that he has been a resident of such city or 
town for six months immediately preceding the election at 
which he claims the right to vote, and shall produce before 
the assessors two witnesses, who shall testify under oath 
that they are voters of the ward or town in which such per- 
son desires to be registered and that the statement of the 
applicant is true. If the assessors are satisfied that such 
statement is true, they shall,, in the first case, assess such 
applicant for his polls and estate and give him a certificate 
of assessment, and in the second, give him a certificate that 
he has been a resident in such city or town the six months 
preceding such election, and forthwith notify the registrars 
of voters of the city or town, if in this commonwealth, where 
such person resided on the first day of April, that they have 
given such certificate. 

Section 20. The assessors, except in Boston, shall enter 
the name and residence of each person thus assessed or cer- 
tified in a book provided for that purpose, and opposite to 
each name, the names, occupations and residences of the per- 
sons who have testified as above provided. 

In every place where voters are registered, the registrars, 
in Boston the election commissioners, and in every place 
where oaths are administered as required by this act, the as- 
sessors, shall post in a conspicuous place a copy of sections 
12 



REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. 

four hundred and sixty and four hundred and sixty-two 
printed on white paper with black ink, in type not less than 
one-quarter of an inch wide. 

Section 21. The assessors shall hold sach day and such 
evening sessions as shall be necessary to carry out the pro- 
visions of the two preceding sections. 

Section 22. All assessments made in accordance with sec- 
tion nineteen shall be subject to the provisions of section 
seventy-four of chapter twelve of the Revised Laws and shall 
be entered in the tax list of the collector of taxes and be 
collected by him according to law. 

Section 23. Provides for the transmission to registrars of 
voters of a list of residents recently deceased, and to the 
election commissioners a list of criminals, paupers and in- 
sane, who had a last known residence in Boston. 

Sections 24-35. Relate to the appointment and duties of 
registrars of voters. 

Registration of Voters. 

Section 36. The registrars shall hold such day and such 
evening sessions as the town by a by-law or the city by an 
ordinance shall prescribe, and such other sessions as they 
deem necessary. 

They shall hold at least one session at some suitable and 
convenient place in every city or town on or before the Sat- 
urday last preceding a primary, except a primary preceding a 
special election, to give an opportunity to qualified voters to 
register. 

In cities, they shall hold a continuous session from twelve 
o'clock noon until ten o'clock in the evening on the twen- 
tieth day preceding the annual state election, and a like 
continuous session on the twentieth day preceding the annual 
city election. 

In towns, they shall hold a continuous session from twelve 
o'clock noon until ten o'clock in the evening on the Saturday 
last but one preceding the annual state election, and a like 
13 



REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. 

continuous session on the Saturday last but one preceding the 
annual town meeting. In towns divided into voting precincts 
they shall, not more than twenty days before the annual 
state election and also not more than twenty days before the 
annual town meeting, but in each case on or before the last 
day fixed for registration, hold at least one session at some 
suitable place within the limits of each voting precinct. In 
towns not divided into voting precincts, they shall, not more 
than twenty days before the annual state election and also 
not more than twenty days before the annual town meeting, 
but in each case on or before the last day fixed for regis- 
tration, hold sessions in one or more suitable places. If, in 
any such town ten or more voters residing in or near a vil- 
lage or locality distant two or more miles from the usual 
place of registration shall, not less than eighteen days before 
the annual state election or the annual town meeting, file a 
petition with the town clerk stating that in such village or 
locality there are at least ten citizens who are entitled and 
desire to be registered, the registrars shall hold a session at 
some suitable place in such village or locality before the 
last day fixed for registration. The time and place of regis- 
tration shall be the same for male and female applicants. 

Section 37. In every city, registration shall cease at ten 
o'clock in the evening on the twentieth day preceding the 
annual state election, and at ten o'clock in the evening on 
the twentieth day preceding the annual city election. In 
every town, registration shall cease at ten o'clock in the 
evening on the Saturday last but one preceding the annual 
state election, and at ten o'clock in the evening on the Satur- 
day last but one preceding the annual town meeting. 

Section 38. The registrars shall, in some suitable place, 
hold a continuous session from twelve o'clock noon until ten 
o'clock in the evening, on the fourth day. or in Boston on the 
seventh day, preceding a special election. Registration shall 
cease at ten o'clock in the evening of the day on which such 
session is held. 

14 



REGISTRATION OP VOTERS. 

Section 39. If the final day for registration of voters falls 
on Sunday or on a holiday, the day preceding such Sunday 
or holiday shall be the final day for such registration. 

Section 40. Any registrar may, at a place appointed for 
registration, on the days and during the hours designated for 
the purpose, receive applications ior registration and ex- 
amine applicants and witnesses under oath; but all doings 
of one registrar shall be subject to the revision and accept- 
ance of the board. 

Section 41. The registrars shall not, after ten o'clock in 
the evening of a day on which registration is to cease, regis- 
ter any person as a voter until after the next election, but 
they may enter or correct upon the registers the names of 
persons whose qualifications as voters have been examined 
between the preceding thirtieth day of April and the close 
of registration, and except in Boston they shall compare all 
notices of omitted assessments transmitted to them by the 
assessors under the provisions of section fifteen, with the an- 
nual register of voters for the previous year, and if it ap- 
pears to their satisfaction that any of said omitted assess- 
ments is that of a person entitled to vote in such previous 
year they may before the close of registration enter such 
name on the current annual register. They shall, in every 
case, require the vote by virtue of which such entry or cor- 
rection is made to be attested by their clerk. 

Section 42. They shall post or publish notices stating the 
places and hours for holding all sessions, the final sessions 
preceding any election, and that after ten o'clock in the even- 
ing of the last day fixed for registration they will not, until 
after the next election, add any name to the registers except 
the names of voters examined as to their qualifications be- 
tween the preceding thirteenth day of April and the close of 
registration. 

Sections 43-44. Provide for keeping records of voters and 
the preparation of annual registers. 



REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. 

Section 45. Every person, male or female, whose name has 
not been entered in the annual register in accordance with 
the preceding section, or section forty-one must, in order to 
be registered as a voter, apply in person ior registration and 
prove that he is qualified to register. 

Section 46. Every male applicant for registration, except 
in Boston, whose name has not been transmitted to the regis- 
trars as provided in section sixteen shall present a tax bill 
or notice from the collector of taxes, or a certificate from the 
assessors showing that he was assessed as a resident of the 
city or town on the preceding hrst day of April, or a certifi- 
cate that he became a resident therein at least six months 
preceding the election at which he claims the right to vote, 
and the same shall be prima facie evidence of his residence. 
In Boston every such applicant whose name has not been 
transmitted to the election commissioners as provided by law 
shall present a certificate from the listing board as provided 
by law, and the same shall be prima facie evidence of his 
residence. 

Section 47. The registrars shall examine under oath an 
applicant for registration relative to his qualification as a 
voter, and shall, unless he is prevented by physical disability, 
or unless he had the right to vote on the first day of May in 
the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, require him to 
write his name in the general register and to read in such 
manner as to show that he is neither prompted nor reciting 
from memory. Registrars shall be provided by the secretary 
of the commonwealth with a copy of the constitution of the 
commonwealth printed on uniform pasteboard slips, each con- 
taining five lines of said constitution printed in double small 
pica type. The registrars shall place said slips in the box 
provided by the secretary of the commonwealth, which shall 
be so constructed as to conceal them from view. Each appli- 
cant shall be required to draw one of said slips from the box 
and read aloud the five lines printed thereon, in full view 
and hearing of the registrars. Each slip shall be returned 
16 



to the box immediately after the test is finished, and the con- 
tents of the box shall be shaken up by a registrar before 
another drawing is made. 2s o person failing to read the con- 
stitution as printed on the slip thus drawn shall be regis- 
tered as a voter. The registrars shall keep said slips in said 
box at all times. The secretary of the commonwealth shall 
upon request provide new slips to replace those worn out or 
lost. 

Section 48. If an applicant for registration is a natural- 
ized citizen, the registrars shall require him to produce for 
inspection his papers of naturalization, and to make oath 
that he is the identical person named therein, and shall, if 
satisfied that the applicant has been legally naturalized, 
make upon his papers a memorandum of the date of such 
inspection. If papers of naturalization have once been ex- 
amined and record thereof made in the general register, the 
registrars need not again require their production. 

Section 49. If, upon examination, the registrars are satis- 
fied that an applicant for registration has all the qualifica- 
tions of a voter, except that of age, and that he will on or 
before the day of next election or town meeting, attain full 
age, they shall place his name upon the registers. 

Section 50. If the registrars decline to register the name 
of a person examined for registration and reported to them 
therefor by a registrar, they shall notify him of their re- 
fusal, and give him a reasonable opportunity to be heard by 
them upon his application. They shall upon the rejection of 
an applicant forthwith inform him of such rejection. 

Section 51. The registrars shall, from time to time, re- 
vise and correct the general register and the current annual 
register in accordance with any facts which may be pre- 
sented to them. They shall strike therefrom the name of 
every deceased person which has been transmitted to them 
by the city or town clerk or the registrar of deaths in ac- 
cordance with section twenty-three; but after the name of a 
voter has been placed upon the current annual register, they 
17 



REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. 

shall not change the place of residence as given thereon, nor, 
unless the voter has deceased, strike such name therefrom, 
until they have sent him a notice of their intention so to do 
and that he may be heard on a certain day named therein. 
Section 52. If a registered voter complains to the regis- 
trars or election commissioners, in writing under oath in a 
city fourteen days at least, or in a town tour days at least, 
before an election or town meeting, that the complainant has 
reason to believe and does believe that a certain person by 
him therein named has been illegally or incorrectly regis- 
tered, and setting forth the reasons for such belief, the regis- 
trars or election commissioners shall examine into such com- 
plaint, and if satisfied that there is sufficient ground there- 
for, they shall summon the person complained of to appear 
before them at a certain place and time before the next elec- 
tion or town meeting to answer to the matters set forth in 
the complaint, and the substance of the complaint and a copy 
of this and the following section shall be set forth in the 
summons. Service of the summons shall be made by an 
officer qualified to serve civil or criminal process, not more 
than fourteen nor less than two days before the day named 
for appearance, by delivering in hand a copy of the sum- 
mons to the person therein summoned, or by leaving it at 
the place of alleged illegal or incorrect registration, if no 
later residence of such person appears on the register, and 
in that event at such later residence if the officer finds that 
such person resides at such place or later residence, as the 
case may be, or if he was formerly there and has changed 
his residence, then by leaving it at the place to which he has 
moved, if it is within the officer's jurisdiction and can be as- 
pertained by inquiry at such place or later residence; but if 
the officer cannot make personal service, and cannot ascer- 
tain the residence of the person complained of, the copy of 
the summons shall be left at such person's last residence, if 
any, known to the officer within his jurisdiction; and the 
officer shall return flu? summons to the registrars or election 
18 



KEUISTKATIOJN OF VOTEKS. 

commissioners before the day named for appearance, with the 
certificate of his doings indorsed thereon. 

Section 53. If a person summoned before the registrars or 
election commissioners to answer to such complaint appears 
before them, they shall examine him under oath, and shall 
receive other evidence which may be offered in regard to the 
matters set forth in the complaint, and if satisfied that he is 
properly registered as a qualified voter they shall enter in 
the register a statement of their determination upon the facts 
required for registration. If the registrars or election com- 
missioners are satisfied that he is not a qualified voter in 
the city or town, they shall strike his name from the register 
If they are satisfied that, although he is a qualified voter in 
the city or town, he is illegally or incorrectly registered in 
a ward or voting precinct other than the ward or voting pre- 
cinct in which he is required to be registered as provided in 
section fourteen, and are satisfied as to which ward or vot- 
ing precinct he is so required to be registered in, and as to 
his place of residence in such ward or voting precinct, they 
shall change his place of residence as given on the register 
accordingly. If a person duly summoned as aforesaid does 
not appear as directed in the summons, the complainant shall 
produce sufficient testimony to make out a prima facie case, 
and if this is done the name of the person complained of shall 
be stricken from the register; but if such person appears be- 
fore the registrars or election commissioners before the elec- 
tion or town meeting next ensuing and shows sufficient cause 
for his failure earlier to appear, the hearing shall be re- 
opened and the matter decided on its merits, as determined 
from the evidence presented on both sides. The complainant 
and the person complained of may be represented by counsel, 
and all witnesses may be cross-examined. 

Section 54. The registrars shall promptly transmit to the 
assessors of the city or town notice of every error which they 
shall discover in the name or residence of a person assessed 

19 



REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. 

therein. The provisions of this section shall not apply to 
Boston. 

Section 55. The registrars or election commissioners shall 
perform their duties in open session, and not secretly. They 
shall distinctly announce the name of every applicant for 
registration before entering his name on the general regis- 
ter. Their records shall at suitable times be open to public 
inspection. 

Section 56. All written complaints and certificates re- 
ceived by the registrars, or election commissioners, and all 
other documents in their custody relative to registration, 
shall be preserved by them for two years after the respective 
dates thereof. 

Section 57. A registrar or election commissioner shall 
have authority to enforce regularity in all proceedings before 
him, and to maintain order in and about the place where a 
session is held, or applications for registration are received, 
and to keep the access thereto open and unobstructed. 

Section 58. The board of police or officer in charge of the 
police force of a city or town shall, when requested by the 
registrars or election commissioners, detail a sufficient num- 
ber of police officers to attend any meeting held by a regis- 
trar in the performance of his duties, and to preserve order 
and enforce his directions. 

Section 59. The governor, with the advice and consent of 
the council, shall, on the petition of not less than ten quali- 
fied voters of a city or town, appoint for a term of one year, 
two supervisors of registration for each place of registra- 
tion therein, one from each of the two leading political par- 
ties. 'They shall attend all sessions or meetings for registra- 
tion held at the places for which they are appointed, and 
either of them may attach to any book or papers there used 
for purposes of registration any statement touching the 
truth or fairness of his proceedings which he may deem 
proper, and may add thereto his signature or other marks 
for the purpose of identification. 
20 



VOTING LISTS AND LISTING BOARD. 

Sections 60-66, 68. Relate to the preparation of voting lists. 

Voting Lists for Use at Caucuses. 

Section 67. When a caucus is called the registrars shall, on 
request of the chairman of the ward or town committee of 
the party whose caucus is to be held or of the person desig- 
nated to call the caucus to order, furnish him for use in the 
caucus a certified copy of the voting list of the town, or of 
the ward of the city for which the caucus is to be held, as 
last published, adding thereto the names of voters registered 
since such publication. 

Listing Board in Boston. 

Section 69. In Boston there shall be a listing board com- 
posed of the police commissioner of said city and one mem- 
ber of the board of election commissioners, who shall an- 
nually be appointed by the mayor, without confirmation by 
the board of aldermen, for the term of one year and who 
shall belong to that one of the two leading political parties 
of which said police commissioner is not a member. In case 
of disagreement between the two members of said board, the 
chief justice of the municipal court of the city of Boston or, 
in case of his disability, the senior justice of said court who 
is not disabled, shall for the purpose of settling such dis- 
agreement, be a member of said board and shall preside and 
cast the deciding vote, in case of a tie. 

Sections 70-72. Relate to the duties of the listing board 
in listing of voters, etc. 

Listing and Registration of Voters in Boston. 
Section 73. If a male person, twenty years of age or up- 1 
wards, resident in Boston on the first day of April, was not 
listed by the board, he shall, in order to establish his right 
to be listed, appear before a member of the board, the super- 
intendent, a deputy superintendent or an inspector of police, 
who are hereby authorized to administer oaths for this pur- 
21 



LISTING AND REGISTRATION. 

pose, and present under oath a statement in writing that he 
was on said day a resident of said city, giving his name, age, 
occupation and residence on the first day of April in the cur- 
rent year, and his residence on the first day of April in the 
preceding year. 

A male person, twenty years of age or upwards, who be- 
comes a resident of said city after the first day of April, and 
desires to be listed, shall appear before a member of the 
board, the superintendent, a deputy superintendent or an 
inspector of police, who are hereby authorized to administer 
oaths for this purpose, and present under oath a statement 
in writing that he became a resident of said city at least 
six months immediately preceding the election at which l»o 
claims the right to vote, giving his name, age, occupation and 
residence on the above date, and his residence on the first 
day of April in the preceding year. 

If the board, after investigation, is satisfied that such 
statements are true, it shall give such applicant a certificate 
that he was a resident of said city on said first day of April, 
or a certificate that he became a resident at least six months 
immediately preceding such election, as the case may be, 
which certificate shall state his name, age, occupation and 
residence on the first day of April in the current year or on 
the above date, as the case may be, and his residence on the 
first day of April in the preceding year; but no such appli- 
cation shall be received later than the thirtieth day preced- 
ing a state or municipal election, and no such person shall be 
listed or be given such certificate later than the twenty-first 
day preceding such state or municipal election. The board 
shall not after the last day for making such application be- 
fore a state election receive an application until aftor Buch 
election. 

In every place where oaths are administered for the pur- 
pose of listing the board shall post in a conspicuous place a 
copy of section four hundred and sixty, printed on white 
22 



LISTING— ELECTION COMMISSIONERS. 

paper with black ink, in type not less than one quarter of an 
inch wide. 

Section 74. Provides that the listing board shall keep a 
record of all applicants for listing under the provisions of 
section seventy-three to be open to public inspection. They 
shall also cause to be printed in some newspapers in Boston the 
name of each applicant. 

Section 75. The police commissioner shall have his office 
open during such hours as shall be necessary to carry out the 
provisions of the two preceding sections. 

Section 76. Relates to the preparation of an annual register 
of voters in Boston by the election commissioners. 

Section 77. Every person, male or female, whose name has 
not been entered in the annual register in accordance with the 
preceding section, must, in order to be registered as a voter, 
apply in person for registration and prove that he is qualified 
to register. 

Election Commissioners of Boston. 
Section 78. The election department of Boston shall be 
under the charge of a board of election commissioners con- 
sisting of four citizens and voters of Boston who shall be 
appointed by the mayor; and chapter four hundred and 
eighty-six of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine, 
and all other acts relating to departments of Boston, or the 
officers and employees thereof, not consistent herewith, shall 
be applicable to said department and the officers and employ- 
ees thereof. 

Section 79. Relates to the appointment, term of office, 
etc., of the election commissioners. 

Section 80. Relates to the appointment of assistant regis- 
trars of voters in Boston. 

93 



POLITICAL COMMITTEES. 

Boston Ballot Law Commission. 
Section 81. Said board shall constitute the Boston ballot 
law commission and shall in all matters relating to objections 
and questions arising in the case of nominations of candidates 
for city offices have the powers and perform the duties pre- 
scribed for the state ballot law commission; and when sitting 
as such, the chief justice of the municipal court of the city of 
Boston, or in case of his disability the senior justice of said 
court who is not disabled, shall be a member of said board 
and shall preside, but shall not vote unless the other commis- 
sioners are equally divided; and in every other matter in 
which the commissioners are equally divided said chief jus- 
tice shall act with them and shall cast the deciding vote. 

Sections 82-87. Provide for registration, the preparation of 
street and voting lists, etc., in Boston. 

POLITICAL COMMITTEES. 

State Committee. 

Section 88. Each political party shall annually elect a state 
committee, the members of which shall hold office for one year 
from the first day of January next following their election 
and until their successors shall have organized. Said com- 
mittee shall consist of at least one member from each sena- 
torial district to be elected at the state primaries, and such 
number of members at large as may be fixed by the committee 
to be elected at the state convention; and the person who in 
the aggregate of all the ballots cast in each district for such 
district members shall receive the highest number of such 
votes shall be the member elected, 

The members of the state committee shall, in January, meet 
and organize by the choice of a chairman, a secretary, a treas- 
urer and such other officers as they may decide to elect. 

The secretary of the state committee shall, within ten days 
after such organization, file with the secretary of the com- 
monwealth, and send to each city and town committee, a list 
of the members of the committee and of its officers, 
24 



POLITICAL COMMITTEES. 

A vacancy in the office of the chairman, secretary or treas- 
urer of the committee or in the membership thereof shall be 
filled by the committee, and a statement of any such change 
shall be filed as in the case of officers first chosen. 
City, Ward and Town Committees. 

Section 89. Each political party shall, in every ward and 
town, annually elect at the state primaries, a committee to be 
called a ward or a town committee, to consist of not less than 
three persons, who shall hold office for one year from the first 
day of January next following their election and until their 
successors shall have organized. 

The members of the several ward committees of a political 
party in a city shall constitute a committee to be called a city 
committee. 

Each town committee shall annually, between the first day 
of January and the first day of March, and each ward and 
city committee shall, within thirty days after the beginning 
of its term of office, meet and organize by the choice of a 
chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and such other officers as it 
may decide to elect. 

The secretary of each city and town committee shall, within 
ten days after its organization, file with the secretary of the 
commonwealth, with the city or town clerk and with the sec- 
retary of the state committee of the political party which it 
represents, a list of the officers and members of the committee. 

A vacancy in the office of the chairman, secretary or treas- 
urer of a city, ward or town committee shall be filled by the 
committee, and a vacancy in the membership of a ward or 
town committee shall be filled by such committee, and a state- 
ment of any such change shall be filed as in the case of the 
officers first chosen. 

Section 90. Upon a re-division of a city into wards, any 
political party may in the next succeeding calendar year elect 
its ward committees for such terms, not exceeding the length 
of the terms for which the former committees were chosen, 
as the city committee existing at the time of calling the 



ALL PRIMARIES. 

caucuses may determine, and thereafter shall elect such com- 
mittees at the times and for the terms prescribed by law. 
The caucuses for the choice of such ward committees shall be 
called by the city committee in existence at the time, and 
shall be subject to such reasonable notice as said city com- 
mittee shall determine. 

Section 91. Committees of any party existing at the time 
when such party at an annual state election first polls for 
governor three per cent of the entire vote cast in the common- 
wealth for that office shall be deemed to be organized under 
these provisions. 

Committee Rules and Regulations. 

Section 92. A state, city or town committee may make 
rules and regulations, not inconsistent with law, for its pro- 
ceedings and relative to caucuses called by it. and may fix the 
number of persons of whom it shall consist, which number 
shall be announced in the call for the meeting at which they 
are to be chosen. Each city or town committee may make 
reasonable regulations, not inconsistent with law, to deter- 
mine membership in the party, and to restrain persons not 
entitled to vote at caucuses from attendance thereat or taking 
part therein. But no political committee shall prevent any 
voter from participating in a caucus of its party for the 
reason that the voter has supported an independent candidate 
for political office. A state committee may make rules and 
regulations, not inconsistent with law, for calling conventions. 

PROVISIONS APPLYING TO ALL PRIMARIES. 
Conduct of Primaries. 
Section 93. Primaries shall be conducted in general accord- 
ance with the provisions of law concerning the conduct of 
elections and the manner of voting thereat, except as other- 
wise provided in the sections concerning primaries. 
Withdrawals From Nomination. 
Section 94. A person who is nominated to be voted for 
at a primary may withdraw his name from nomination by a 
26 



ALL PRIMARIES. 

request in writing signed by him and acknowledged before a 
justice of the peace and filed with the officer with whom the 
nomination was filed, in the case of a person to be voted for 
at a state or presidential primary within the seventy-two 
week-day hours, and in the case of a person to be voted for at 
a city or town primary within the forty-eight week-day hours, 
succeeding five o'clock in the afternoon of the last day fixed 
for the filing of nomination papers for such primary. 

Nomination Papers. 

Section 95. When nomination papers have been filed, and 
are in apparent conformity with law, they shall be valid 
unless objections thereto are made in writing and filed with 
the officer with whom the nomination paper was filed. Such 
objections shall be filed in the case of candidates to be voted 
for at a state or presidential primary within the seventy-two 
week-day hours, in the case of candidates to be voted for at. 
city primaries within the forty-eight week-day hours, and in 
the case of candidates to be voted for at town primaries 
within the twenty-four week-day hours, succeeding five o'clock 
in the afternoon of the last day fixed for the filing of nomina- 
tion papers for such primaries. 

Section 96. Objections to nomination papers for candidates 
to be voted for at state or presidential primaries, and all other 
questions relating thereto, shall be considered and determined 
by the state ballot law commission; to nominations for can- 
didates to be voted for at city primaries by the board of 
registrars, the city clerk and the city solicitor; and to nom- 
inations for candidates to be voted for at town primaries by 
the board of registrars. 

Primaries, When Held. 
Section 97. State primaries shall be held on the sixth Tues- 
day preceding state elections, city primaries on the third 
Tuesday preceding city elections, town primaries, on the sec- 
ond Tuesday preceding town elections, and presidential pri- 
maries on the last Tuesday in April; except that primaries 
87 



ALL PRIMARIES. 

before a special election shall be held on the second Tuesday 
preceding the special election. 

In Boston they shall be held by precincts as established for 
elections; elsewhere, wholly or partly by wards, precincts or 
towns, as the board of aldermen or selectmen may from time 
to time determine. 

What Provisions of Law Apply. 

Section 98. The provisions of law relating to election 
officers, voting places for elections, election apparatus and 
blanks, calling and conduct of elections, manner of voting at 
elections, counting and recounting of votes at elections, the 
provisions of section three hundred and eight, corrupt prac- 
tices, and penalties, shall apply to primaries, except as other- 
wise provided in the sections concerning primaries. 
Recounts. 

Section 99. In Boston petitions for recounts after primaries 
shall be filed before five o'clock in the afternoon of the second 
day thereafter. 

Officers Designated to Serve at Primaries. 

Section 100. The election commissioners in Boston, the 
city clerks in other cities, and the town clerks in towns may 
designate two inspectors and two deputy inspectors, repre- 
senting the two leading political parties, instead of a larger 
number, to serve at the primaries, and from the whole body of 
election officers they may designate officers equally represent- 
ing the two leading political parties to serve as tellers in any 
precinct or ward during part of the day for the purpose of 
receiving ballots, checking names, or canvassing and counting 
votes, such tellers to receive such part of a full day's compen- 
sation of election officers as the election commissioners in 
Boston, the board of aldermen in other cities, or the selectmen 
in towns, may determine. 

Section 101. In wards or towns where at elections voting 
is by precincts, but at primaries by wards or towns, the city 
or town clerk shall designate which of the election officers 
shall serve as primary officers. 
38 



ALL PRIMARIES. 

Section 102. Except in Boston no person shall be ineligible 
to serve as a primary officer because he is a candidate for or 
member of a ward or town committee. 
Ballots. 

Section 103. Ballots for use at state and presidential pri- 
maries shall be prepared and provided, and the number thereof 
determined by the secretary of the commonwealth, and no 
other ballots shall be received or counted: provided, however, 
that if the ballots provided for any polling place are not de- 
livered, or if after delivery they are lost, destroyed or stolen, 
the city or town clerk or election commissioners shall provide 
ballots similar as far as possible, which ballots may be used. 

Section 104. The city or town shall provide and the city 
or town clerk shall prepare ballots to be used in city or town 
primaries, and no other ballots shall be received or counted. 
No ballots as herein provided shall be printed in any printing- 
establishment owned or managed by the city of Boston. 

Section 105. The number of ballots for use at city or town 
primaries shall be determined by the city clerk in cities, and 
by the town clerk in towns, and shall not for any ward or 
town exceed one ballot of each party for each voter therein. 

Section 106. Ballots for each party shall be printed on 
paper of a different color from that on which the ballots for 
any other party are printed. At least six facsimile copies of 
the ballot for each party, printed on colored paper, shall be 
provided for each polling place as specimen ballots. 

Section 107. At the top of each ballot shall be printed the 
words. "The official ballot of (here shall follow the party 
name)." On the back and outside of each ballot when folded 
shall be printed the words "Official ballot of the (here shall be 
inserted the party name)", followed by the number of the 
precinct and ward or the name of the town for which the 
ballot is prepared, the date of the primary and for state or 
presidential primaries a facsimile of the signature of the sec- 
retary of the commonwealth and for city or town primaries a 
facsimile of the signature of the city or town clerk. Names 
29 



ALL PRIMARIES. 

of candidates for each elective office shall be arranged alpha- 
betically according to their surnames. 

Names of candidates for ward or town committees, and for 
delegates to conventions shall be arranged in groups in such 
order as may be determined by lot, under the direction of tht 
secretary of the commonwealth, who shall notify each state 
committee and give a representative of each such committee 
an opportunity to be present: provided, however, that, when 
necessary, groups may be printed on the ballot in two or 
more columns. 

Against the name of a candidate for an elective office, for a 
ward or town committee or for a member of a state committee 
shall be printed the street and number, if any, of his residence. 

Against the name of a candidate for an elective office shall 
be printed the statement contained in the nomination paper 
placing him in nomination. 

No names shall be printed on a ballot other than those 
presented on nomination papers. Immediately following the 
names of candidates blank spaces equal to the number of per- 
sons to be chosen shall be provided for the insertion of other 
names. 

The number of persons to be voted for for the different 
offices shall be stated on the ballot. 

The form of ballots and the arrangement of printed matter 
thereon shall be in general the same as that of the official 
state ballots, except as otherwise provided in the sections 
concerning primaries. 

Manner of Voting. 

Section 108. A cross (X) marked against a name shall con- 
stitute a vote for the person so designated. A cross in the 
circle at the head of a group of candidates for ward com- 
mittees or for delegates to a state convention shall count as a 
vote for each candidate therein. A voter may vote for one or 
more candidates in any such group by marking a cross against 
the name of each such candidate, or he may insert another 
name and mark a cross against it. If he votes for more candi- 
30 



ALL PRIMARIES. 

dates than the number to be elected, his vote shall not be 
counted. 

Delivery of Ballot Boxes, Ballots, Etc. 

Section 109. The city or town clerk, or in Boston the elec- 
tion commissioners, before the opening of the polls on the day 
of the primary, shall deliver at the polling place to the warden 
or, if he is not present, to the clerk, or, if both are absent, 
then to any inspector, ballot boxes, the ballots, specimen bal- 
lots, voting lists, suitable blank forms and apparatus for can- 
vassing and counting the ballots and making the returns, a 
seal of suitable device and a record book of each polling place. 
The presiding officer at each polling place shall, before the 
opening of the primary, conspicuously post in such polling 
place at least six specimen ballots for each party, which shall 
be kept posted until the polls are closed, except that where 
voting booths are provided two of such specimen ballots for 
each party may be posted on such booth. 
Enrolment. 

Section 110. When, in a primary, a voter seeks to pass the 
guard rail, he shall be asked by one of the ballot clerks, with 
which political party he desires to be enrolled, and the ballot 
clerk upon reply shall distinctly announce the name of such 
political party and give him such political party ballot. The 
voter's selection shall be checked on the voting list by the 
ballot clerk and such list shall be returned to the election 
commissioners in Boston, or to the city clerk in any other 
city, or to the town clerk in towns, for preservation during 
the next succeeding five calendar years. The party enrolment 
of voters on such voting lists, and all subsequent party enrol- 
ment of voters, shall be transferred each year to the voting 
lists used at subsequent primaries, providing the names of 
such voters have been entered, in Boston in the general register 
prepared by the election commissioners, from the police lists, 
and in other cities and in towns, in the annual register pre- 
pared from the assessors' lists. 

Section 111. No voter enrolled at a primary shall be 
31 



STATE PRIMARIES. 

allowed to receive the ballot of any political party except that 
with which he is so enrolled, but he may establish, change or 
cancel his enrolment by appearing in person before the election 
commissioners in Boston, the city clerk in any other city, or 
the town clerk in towns, and requesting in writing to have 
his enrolment changed to another party, or cancelled: pro- 
vided, that such change or cancellation shall not take effect 
until the expiration of ninety days after the voter so appears. 
No voter enrolled as a member of one political party shall be 
allowed to receive the ballot of any other politieal party, upon 
a claim by him of erroneous enrolment, except upon a certifi- 
cate of such error from the election commissioners or board of 
registrars, as the case may be, which shall be presented to the 
presiding officer of the primary and preserved as part of the 
records of such primary; but the political party enrolment of 
a voter shall not preclude him from receiving at a city or town 
primary the ballot of any municipal party, though in no one 
primary shall he receive more than one party ballot. All 
party enrolments at city or town primaries prior to the pas- 
sage of this act are hereby cancelled. 

Counting of Votes. 
Section 112. In the counting of votes when the ballots are 
removed from the ballot box, they shall first be sorted into 
piles, one for each party, and each pile shall be counted and 
sealed separately. Votes shall be counted only for nomina- 
tions of the party on whose ballot they appear. 



PROVISIONS APPLYING TO STATE PRIMARIES. 
Section 113. The nomination of candidates of political 
parties for all offices to be filled at a state election, excepting 
the office of presidential elector, and the election of district 
members of state committees, members of ward and town 
committees, and the delegates to state conventions of political 
parties shall be by direct plurality vote in primaries. 
District State Committee and Delegates to State Conventions. 
The number of district members of the state committee, not 
32 



STATE PRIMARIES. 

less than one from each senatorial district, and the number of 
delegates to the state convention, not less than one for each 
ward or town, to be elected, shall be fixed by the state com- 
mittee, and the number of members of ward and town com- 
mittees, not less than three for each ward and town, to be 
elected, shall be fixed by the city and town committees. 
Xotice of the number of delegates and members of committees 
shall be given by the state, city or town committees, as the 
case may be, to the secretary of the commonwealth, on or 
before the first day of August. 

Relative to Primaries in Wards, Precincts, Etc. 

Section 114. In cities or towns where the question of hold- 
ing primaries by wards, precincts, or groups of precincts is 
determined by the aldermen or selectmen, notice of such deter- 
mination shall be given to the secretary of the commonwealth, 
by the aldermen or selectmen on or before the first day of 
August; except that in case of primaries before special elec- 
tions, such notice shall be given at least fourteen days before 
the primaries. 

Polls. 

Section 115. The polls at every state primary shall be open 
during such hours, not less than nine in cities or two in 
towns, as may be designated by. the board of election commis- 
sioners in Boston, the aldermen in other cities, and the select- 
men in towns. 

Nomination Papers, 

Section 116. The nomination of candidates for nomination 
at state primaries shall be by nomination papers. In the case 
of offices to be filled by all the voters of the commonwealth 
such papers shall be signed in the aggregate by at least one 
thousand voters, not less than two hundred and fifty to be 
from each of four different counties. In the case of all other 
offices to be filled at a state election, by a number of voters 
equal in the aggregate to five voters for each ward or town in 
the district or county, but in no case shall more than two 
hundred and fifty be required. 

33 



STATE PRIMARIES. 

The nomination of candidates for election at state primaries 
shall be made as in the case of candidates for nomination for 
state offices other than those to be filled by all the voters of 
the commonwealth. 

Section 117. Every nomination paper shall state, in addi- 
tion to the name of the candidate, (1) his residence, with 
street and number thereof, if any, (2) the office for which he 
is nominated, (3) the political party which he represents, and 
except for candidates for ward and town committees and dele- 
gates to conventions the paper may state, in not more than 
eight words, the occupation of the candidate, the public 
offices which he has held, or that he is a candidate for renom- 
ination, providing he is at the time an incumbent of the office 
for which he seeks renomination for another term, but not 
otherwise. Every voter who signs such paper shall sign it in 
person with his full surname, his Christian name, and the 
initial of every other name which he may have, and shall state 
his residence of the previous first day of April, as well as the 
place where he is then living, with the street and number 
thereof; but any voter who is prevented by physical disability 
from writing, or who had the right to vote on the first day of 
May in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, may 
authorize some person to write his name and residence in his 
presence; and every voter may sign as many nomination 
papers for each office to be filled as there are persons to be 
nominated for or elected thereto, and no more. 

Such papers shall also contain the statement that the sign- 
ers thereof are members of the party represented by the can- 
didate and are entitled to vote in the primaries of that party; 
and whoever knowingly subscribes falsely to a statement on a 
nomination paper shall be punished by imprisonment for not 
more than five days or by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars. 
No nomination paper except for a delegate or delegates to a 
convention shall be valid in respect to any candidate whose 
written acceptance is not thereon. 

None but enrolled voters of the party represented by a can- 
34 



STATE PRIMARIES. 

didate, and voters who are not enrolled in any party, shall be 
entitled to sign the nomination paper of such candidate. No 
nomination paper shall contain the name of more than one 
candidate except in the case of delegates to the state conven- 
tion and members of ward and town committees. 

Section 118. Every nomination paper shall be submitted on 
or before five o'clock in the afternoon of the Saturday pre- 
ceding the day on which it must be filed to the registrars of 
the city or town in which the signers appear to be voters, and 
in Boston to the election commissioners, who shall forthwith 
certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of 
voters, not enrolled in any other party than that represented 
by the candidate whose name appears in the nomination paper 
both in the city or town and in the district for which the 
nomination is made. They need not certify a greater number 
of names than are required to make a nomination, with one 
fifth of such number added thereto. Names not certified in 
the first instance shall not thereafter be certified on the same 
nomination papers. The secretary of the commonwealth shall 
not be required in any case to receive nomination papers for a 
candidate after receiving papers containing a sufficient number 
of certified names to make a nomination, with one fifth of 
such number added thereto. For the purpose of certifying to 
the names on primary nomination papers it shall be the duty 
-of the board of registrars of voters, in Boston the election 
commissioners, to hold meetings on the four Saturdays next 
preceding the date on which such papers are required to be 
filed with the secretary of the commonwealth, except that such, 
meetings shall be held on the two Saturdays next preceding 
the date on which the papers are required to be so filed for 
primaries before special elections. 

Xo person shall be a candidate for nomination for more than 
one office for which such nominations are made; but this shall 
not apply to candidates for membership in political com- 
mittees or delegations to the state convention. 

Section 119. Nomination papers for use in the nomination 
35 



STATE PRIMARIES. 

of candidates to be voted for at state primaries shall be pre- 
pared and furnished by the secretary of the commonwealth, 
upon request. 

Section 120. All nomination papers oi candidates to be 
voted for at state primaries shall be riled with the secretary 
of the commonwealth on or before the fifth Tuesday preceding 
the day of the primaries; except in the case of primaries be- 
fore special elections, when nomination papers shall be bled 
on or before the second Tuesday preceding the day of the 
primaries. 

Section 121. If a person nominated to be voted lor a state 
primary dies before the day of the primary, or withdraws his 
name from nomination, or is found to be ineligible, the 
vacancy may be tilled, in the case of a candidate for nomina- 
tion, by the state committee, if the candidate is one to be 
voted for by all voters of the commonwealth; and in the case 
of all other candidates, by the members of the ward and 
town committees in the wards and towns comprising the re- 
spective districts, and in the case of a candidate for election, 
by the said ward and town committee; provided, however, 
that the death, withdrawal or ineligibility of a candidate tor 
nomination shall not be treated as creating a vacancy to be 
filled unless by reason of such vacancy there would be no can- 
didate for the party nomination for the office. 

Section 122. In cases of withdrawal nominations to fill 
vacancies shall be filed with the secretary of the common- 
wealth within seventy-two week-day hours succeeding live 
o'clock in the afternoon of the last day for filing withdrawals. 
They shall be open to objections in the same manner, bo far 
as practicable, as other nominations. 

No vacancy caused by withdrawal shall be filled before the 
withdrawal has been filed. 

Canvassing Returns, Determining Results, Etc. 
Section 123. No ballots cast at a state primary shall be 
counted until the close of the polls. 

Section 124. Upon the receipt of the records of votes cast 
36 



STATE PRIMARIES. 

at state primaries the city or town clerk or election commis- 
sioners shall forthwith canvass the same and make return of 
the votes for candidates for nomination for state officers, and 
for election as memhers of the state committee, to the secre- 
tary of the commonwealth, who shall forthwith canvass such 
returns, determine the results thereof, notify the successful 
candidates, and certify to the state committees the names of 
the persons nominated for state offices and elected as members 
of the state committees. 

Said clerks or commissioners shall determine the results of 
the vote for delegates to the state conventions and members of 
ward and town committees, issue proper certificates thereof to 
the successful candidates, and notify the chairman of the city 
and town committees of the respective parties. 
In Case of a Tie Vote. 

Section 125. In case of a tie vote for any candidate for 
nomination for an office to be filled by all the voters of the 
commonwealth the vacancy shall be filled by the state com- 
mittee. 

In case of a tie vote for any other candidate for nomination 
the vacancy shall be filled by the members of the ward and 
town committees in the wards and towns comprising the dis- 
tricts for which the nominations are to be made. If there is 
a tie vote for delegates to a convention, or a place unfilled in 
a delegation, or a vacancy occasioned by inability or neglect 
of a delegate elected to attend a convention, such vacancies 
shall be filled only by vote of the remaining members of the 
delegation at a meeting called for the purpose. Such meeting 
shall choose a chairman and secretary, and the secretary shall 
notify the secretary of the convention of the action taken 
relative to such vacancy, except that, if only one delegate or 
two delegates were to be elected, the delegate or the remain- 
ing delegate, as the case may be, shall fill such vacancy and 
notify the secretary of the convention of such action. 

If there is a tie vote for members of a ward or town com- 
mittee, the members elected shall fill the vacancy. 
37 



CITY AND TOWN PRIMARIES. 

If a majority of a delegation, or of a ward or town com- 
mittee, is not elected the vacancy shall be filled by the ward 
or town committees. 

All vacancies caused by ties shall be filled only by the choice 
of one of the candidates receiving the tie vote. 
State Convention, Etc. 

Section 126. A political party may, upon the call of its 
state committee, but not earlier than one week nor later than 
two weeks, after the holding of the primaries, hold a state 
convention for the purpose of adopting a platform, electing 
such number of members at large of the state committee as 
may be fixed by the state committee, nominating presidential 
electors, and for such other purposes not inconsistent with this 
act as the state committee or the convention may determine. 
Such convention shall consist of the delegates elected at the 
state primary (in number not less than one for each ward and 
town), the members of the state committee, the United States 
senators from Massachusetts who are members of the party, 
the nominees of the party for all offices to be filled at the 
state election, and in years in which no elections are held for 
such offices, the incumbents of those offices who are members 
of the party. 

Section 127. The secretary of the commonwealth may em- 
ploy such temporary clerical assistance as he may deem neces- 
sary to carry out the provisions of this act relative to pri- 
maries: provided, however, that the provisions of chapter 
nineteen of the Revised Laws and the civil service rules made 
thereunder shall not apply to such employment. 

PROVISIONS APPLYING TO CITY AND TOWN 

PRIMARIES. 

Section 128. All primaries of political and municipal parties 

for the nomination of candidates to be voted for at city and 

town elections in cities, and in towns using official ballots, 

which vote that primaries shall be held therein, shall be con- 

38 



CITY AND TOWN PRIMARIES. 

ducted in general accordance with the provisions of law con- 
cerning primaries. 

Section 129. In any city or town which has adopted the 
provisions of law for nominating by primaries, the following 
question shall be put on the official ballot at any city election 
or annual town meeting on petition of five per cent of the 
voters registered at the time of the preceding city election or 
annual town meeting, filed with the city or town clerk on or 
before the last day of fifing nomination papers: — "Shall pri- 
maries for the nomination of candidates to be voted for at city 
(or town) elections continue to be held in this city (or town) ?" 
In any city or town not nominating by primaries the following- 
question may, by similar petition, be put on the ballot at the 
next city election or annual town meeting: — "Shall primaries 
for the nomination of candidates to be voted for at city (or 
town) elections be held in this city (or town) V In the event 
of an affirmative or negative vote on these questions, such 
primaries shall or shall not thereafter be held accordingly. 

Clerks of cities or towns which vote to hold primaries or to 
rescind such action shall forthwith notify the secretary of the 
commonwealth of such vote. 

Section 130. Notices of intention to participate in pri- 
maries shall be furnished by the city and town committees of 
such political and municipal parties as are entitled to and 
desire to participate therein not less than twenty-two days 
prior to the day on which the primaries are to be held, to the 
city clerk in cities or the town clerk in towns. 

Nomination Papers. 

Section 131. The city or town shall provide, and the city or 
town clerk shall seasonably prepare blank nomination papers 
for use in the nomination of candidates to be voted for at 
city or town primaries. Such papers shall state the place 
where, and the day and hour prior to which, signed nomination 
papers shall be filed. 

Section 132. Nominations of candidates for elective offices, 
to be voted for at a primary, shall be made by nomination 
39 



CITY AND TOWN PRIMARIES 

papers, as hereinafter provided. Such nominations shall be 
made on the blank nomination papers prepared in accordance 
with the preceding section; and no nomination paper offered 
for filing shall be received or shall be valid to which is 
attached any card, paper or other device containing the name 
of a candidate, his written acceptance, or the signature of any 
voter required by this section. Such papers shall be signed in 
person by at least five voters of the ward or town in which 
the primary is to be held, who shall add to their signatures 
the street and number, if any, of their residence. Such papers 
for a district composed of more than one ward shall be signed 
by a number of voters equal in the aggregate to not less than 
five voters for each ward in said district. Nomination papers 
shall not contain a larger number of names of candidates than 
there are persons to be elected. No nomination paper shall be 
valid in respect to any candidate whose written acceptance is 
not thereon. No vacancy caused by the death, withdrawal or 
ineligibility of any candidate shall be filled, unless the person 
entitled to fill such vacancy files the written acceptance of the 
candidate who is nominated to fill the vacancy. 

Section 133. Every nomination paper shall state, in addi- 
tion to the name of the candidate, (1) his residence, with 
street and number thereof, if any, (2) the office for which he 
is nominated, (3) the political or municipal party which he 
represents, and the paper may state in not more than eight 
words, the occupation of the candidate, the public offices which 
he has held, or that he is a candidate for renomination. pro- 
vided he is at the time an incumbent of the office for which 
he seeks renomination for another term, but not otherwise. 
Every voter who signs such paper shall sign it in person, with 
his full surname, his Christian name, and the initial of every 
other name which he may have, and shall state his residence 
of the previous first day of April, as well as the place where 
he is then living, with the street and number thereof; but any 
voter who is prevented by physical disability from writing, 
or who had the right to vote on the first day of May in the 
40 



CITY AND TOWN PRIMARIES. 

year eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, may authorize some 
person to write his name and residence in his presence; and 
every voter may sign as many nomination papers for each 
office to be filled as there are persons to be nominated for or 
elected thereto, and no more. 

Such paper shall also contain the statement that the signers 
thereof are members of the party represented by the candidate 
and are entitled to vote in the caucuses or primaries of that 
party; and whoever knowingly subscribes falsely to a state- 
ment on a nomination paper shall be punished by imprison- 
ment for not more than five days or by a fine not exceeding 
fifty dollars. 

Filing of Nomination Papers. 

Section 134. All nomination papers of candidates to be 
voted for at city or town primaries shall be filed with the city 
or town clerk not less than ten week days previous to the day 
on which the primary is to be held for which the nominations 
are made. Every such nomination paper shall be submitted 
at or before five o'clock in the afternoon of the Saturday pre- 
ceding the day on which it must be filed to the registrars of 
the city or town in which the signers appear to be voters, and 
the registrars shall forthwith certify thereon a number of sig- 
natures which are names of voters not enrolled in any other 
party than that represented by the candidate whose name 
appears in the nomination papers both in the city or town and 
in the district for which the nomination is made. They need 
not certify a greater number of names than are required to 
make a nomination with one fifth of such number added 
thereto. Names not certified in the first instance shall not 
thereafter be certified on the same nomination papers. The 
city or town clerk shall not be required, in any case, to receive 
nomination papers for a candidate after receiving papers con- 
taining a sufficient number of certified names to make a nom- 
ination with one fifth of such number added thereto. 

Section 135. In case of a vacancy caused by the death, 
withdrawal or ineligibility of a candidate, the person who filed 
41 



PRESIDENTIAL PBIMABI] 

the nomination paper placing such candidate in nomination 
may fill the vacancy by presenting a new name on a nomina* 
tion paper signed by himself with his own hand. If such 
vacancy was caused by withdrawal the nomination paper shall 
be filed within twenty-four week-day hours succeeding five 
o'clock of the last day for making withdrawals. 

Section 136. The polls at every such primary shall be open 
during such, hours, not less than nine in cities or four in 
towns, as may be designated by the aldermen of cities, and 
the selectmen of towns. 

Section 137. City clerks in cities, and town clerks in towns, 
shall canvass the returns of votes, determine the results, and 
issue proper certificates thereof to the successful candidates. 
Provisions Applying to Presidential Primaries. 

Section 138. In any year in which candidates for preside 
tial electors are to be elected, the election of delegates and of 
alternate delegates to national conventions of political parties 
shall be by direct plurality vote in primaries. 

The number of district delegates and the number of district 
alternate delegates, not less than one from each congressional 
district, and the number of delegates and alternate delegates 
at large, shall be fixed by the state committee. Notice of the 
number of delegates to be elected shall be given to the secre- 
tary of the commonwealth on or before the third Wednesday 
in March by the state committee of each political party which 
intends to participate in such primaries. 

Section 139. In cities and towns where the question of 
holding primaries by wards, precincts or groups of precincts is 
determined by the aldermen or selectmen, notice of such deter- 
mination shall be given to the secretary of the commonwealth 
by the aldermen or selectmen on or before the third Wednes- 
day in March. 

Section 140. In primaries at which delegates to national 

conventions of political parties are elected, the secretary of the 

commonwealth shall cause to be placed first upon the ballots 

of such political party the names of candidates for the nom- 

42 



PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES. 

ination by such political party for the office of president of 
the United States and of vice president of the United States, 
arranged, under separate headings for each office, alphabeti- 
cally according to their surnames, and each voter may express 
his preference for such candidates in the same manner as in 
voting for candidates for state offices to be voted for by all 
the voters of the commonwealth. 

The nomination of candidates for nomination for the office 
of president of the United States and of vice president of the 
United States shall be made by nomination papers as in the 
case of offices to be filled by all the voters of the common- 
wealth. 

Upon the receipt of the records of votes cast at presidential 
primaries the city or town clerk or election commissioners 
shall forthwith canvass the same and make return thereof to 
the secretary of the commonwealth, who shall forthwith can- 
vass such returns for delegates, determine the results thereof, 
and notify the successful candidates. 

The votes cast for preference shall be returned and can- 
vassed in the same manner as in the case of votes for state 
offices to be filled by all the voters of the commonwealth, and 
the secretary of the commonwealth shall forthwith certify the 
result to the state committees of the respective political 
parties. 

Section 141. In case of a vacancy caused by the death, 
withdrawal or ineligibility of a candidate for delegate to a 
national convention the vacancy may be filled in such manner 
as may be provided on the nomination paper placing such can- 
didate in nomination: provided, however, that such provision 
is clearly stated on such paper before the signature of any 
voter is entered thereon. When no such provision is made the 
remaining candidate or candidates nominated by the same 
nomination paper may fill the vacancy. In the case of a 
withdrawal, such vacancy must be filled by fifing in the office 
of the secretary of the commonwealth, within seventy-two 
week-day hours succeeding five o'clock in the afternoon of the 
43 



ALL CAUCUSES. 

last day for filing withdrawals, a statement in writing signed 
by the person or persons authorized to fill the vacancy giving 
the name and residence of the candidate nominated accom- 
panied by the written acceptance of such candidate. 

Section 142. The provisions of law relating to primaries not 
inconsistent with the three preceding sections shall apply to 
presidential primaries so far as practicable. 



PROVISIONS APPLYING TO ALL CAUCUSES OF POLITI- 
CAL PARTIES. 
Section 143. If in a city, except Boston, or town wherein 
elections are held by precincts, the city or town committee of 
either of the two leading political parties shall file with the 
aldermen or selectmen, at least two weeks prior to the time 
of holding its caucuses, a notice that such party desires to 
hold its caucuses by precincts, or by groups of precincts in any 
ward, the aldermen or selectmen shall furnish a polling place 
in each precinct for the use of such party, as provided in 
section one hundred and sixty-one, and the caucuses of such 
party shall T)e held accordingly. 

Relative to Special Elections. 

Section 144. Caucuses relative to a special election shall 
be held at such time and place and subject to such reasonable 
notice as the political committee whose duty it is to provide 
for holding the same may determine. Calls therefor shall be 
issued by the chairman and secretary of said political com- 
mittee. 

Notices. 

Section 145. Every caucus of a political party shall be 
called by a written or printed notice. No caucus or meeting 
of a political party not so called shall be recognized as valid 
under this title. It shall by the duty of the presiding officer 
at a caucus to open such caucus at the hour appointed there- 
for in the notice thereof. 

44 



ALL CAUCUSES. 

To Whom Notices Shall Apply. 
Section 146. Notices of caucuses shall apply to all members 
of the political party calling thern, and to them only. No 
person having voted in the caucus of one political party 
shall be entitled to vote or take part in the caucus of another 
political party within the ensuing twelve months. Except 
that voting or taking part in the caucuses of any municipal 
party by any voter shall not affect his legal right to vote or 
to take part in the caucuses of any other political party, for 
any other election; and having voted or taken part in the 
caucuses of another political party for any previous election, 
shall not affect his right to vote or take part in the caucuses 
of any municipal party. No voter shall be prevented from 
voting or participating in any caucus if he takes the following 
oath which shall be administered to him by the presiding 
officer of the caucus: 

You do solemnly swear (or affirm) that you are a registered 
voter in this ward (or town) and have the legal right to vote 
in this caucus : that you are a member of the political party 
holding the same, and intend to vote for its candidates at the 
polls ot the election next ensuing ; and that you have not taken 
part or voted in the caucus of any other political party for 
twelve months last past. 

Such voter may be challenged like any other voter. Any 
person whose right to vote is challenged for any cause recog- 
nized by law shall not be permitted to vote until he has taken 
the foregoing oath; and the clerk or secretary of the caucus 
shall make a record of the administration of said oath to 
every person who takes the same, which record ^ shall state 
whether or not said person voted. Said record shall be 
turned with the proceedings of said caucus and shall be prima 
facie evidence in any court that such person took said oath 
in said caucus. 

Voting Lists to be Used. 

Section 147. In balloting, the voting lists furnished under 
the provisions of section sixty-seven shall be used as check 
45 



ALL CAUCUSES. 

lists and no person shall be entitled to vote or to take part in 
a caucus whose name does not appear upon said lists. 

Plurality Vote to Elect, Certificates of Election, Returns, Tie 
Votes, Etc. 

Section 148. The persons receiving the highest number of 
votes in a caucus shall be declared elected or nominated. 

If there is a tie vote for caucus officers, the caucus officers 
elected shall fill the vacancy. 

If a majority of caucus officers is not elected, or there is a 
tie vote for candidates for an elective office, the caucus shall 
at once proceed to another ballot unless some one present 
entitled to vote objects; in which case the caucus shall adjourn 
to any subsequent day. The hour and place shall, if practica- 
ble, be the same as that named in the call. 

Section 149. The presiding officer and secretary or clerk 
of each caucus shall within three week days after its final 
adjournment deliver or send to each caucus officer a certificate 
of his election, and to each candidate for an elective office a 
notice of his nomination. 

Section 150. Returns of all caucuses of political parties at 
which are made any direct nominations for a district com- 
prising more that one ward, or where caucuses are held in 
one precinct or by groups of precincts in any ward, shall be 
made according to the provisions of section one hundred and 
seventy-nine. The registrars of voters shall canvass said re- 
turns and determine the results thereof. Recounts of ballots 
shall be made as provided in section one hundred and eighty- 
one. 

Section 151. If there is a tie vote for any candidate of a 
political party nominated directly for any office, for a district 
comprising more than one ward, the vacancy shall be filled by 
a regularly elected general or executive committee represent- 
ing the election district in which such vote has been cast, but 
the vacancy shall be filled only by the choice of one of the 
candidates receiving such tie vote. 
46 



CAUCUSES NOT USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS, 

PROVISIONS APPLYING TO CAUCUSES OF POLITICAL 

PARTIES AT WHICH OFFICIAL BALLOTS 

ARE NOT USED. 

Section 152. At least two weeks prior to the date on which 
caucuses are to be held, the chairman or secretary of the city 
or town committee shall notify the aldermen or the selectmen 
respectively of such date, and said aldermen or selectmen shall, 
at the expense of the city or town, provide polling places for 
said caucuses, in case of a city, not less than one for each 
ward; and shall, at least ten days prior to the date of said 
caucus, give said chairman or secretary notice of the places 
so provided. 

Notices. 

Section 153. Xotice of caucuses, signed by the chairman 
and secretary, shall be issued by each city and town committee 
not less than seven days prior to the day on which they are 
to be held. The notices shall state the place where, and the 
day and hour when, the several caucuses are to be held. They 
shall be conspicuously posted in at least five places on the 
highways or streets, and if practicable, in every post office in 
the city or town, or shall be published at least twice in one 
or more local newspapers, if there are any. The hour fixed 
for calling the caucus to order shall not be later than eight 
o'clock in the evening. The notice shall designate by name 
or office of the person who shall call such caucus to order and 
he shall preside until a chairman is chosen. If he is absent at 
the time appointed, any member of the ward or town com- 
mittee present shall call the caucus to order and preside until 
a chairman is chosen. The first business in order shall be the 
choice of a chairman, a secretary and such other officers as 
the meeting may determine. No person shall serve as a caucus 
officer at any caucus in which he is a candidate for a nomina- 
tion to an elective office. 

Section 154. A ballot shall be taken for the choice of any 
candidate, to be selected by such caucus, and the polls shall 
be kept open at least thirty minutes. 
47 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

Care of Ballots and Recounts. 

Section 155. The secretary of each caucus shall forthwith, 
after the ballots cast therein have been counted, transmit the 
said ballots and the check list used at the caucus to the city 
or town clerk, as the case may be. who shall preserve them 
for ten days. If during said time ten voters entitled to vote 
in said caucus shall file with said clerk a written request so 
to do, he shall preserve the ballots and voting lists for three 
months, and shall produce the same if required by any court 
of justice having jurisdiction or authority over the same. 

If within three week days after any caucus a person who 
has received votes thereat for nomination or election to any 
office, shall file a statement in writing with the said clerk, 
claiming an election or nomination or declaring an intention to 
contest the election or nomination of any other person, the 
clerk shall preserve the ballots for such nomination or office 
until the claim or contest has been finally determined. 

The clerk shall immediately give notice in writing to the 
persons affected and to the chairman and secretary of the 
caucus, fixing a time within twenty-four hours thereafter and 
a place at which said ballots will be recounted. The chairman 
and secretary of the caucus shall, at said time and place, 
recount said ballots and determine the questions raised. Each 
candidate affected may be present during such recount, or may 
be represented by an agent appointed by him in writing. If it 
shall appear upon a recount that persons were nominated or 
elected other than those declared to have been nominated or 
elected, certificates of such change shall be made as in the 
case of the original certificate. 



PROVISIONS APPLYING TO CAUCUSES OF POLITICAL 

PARTIES AT WHICH OFFICIAL BALLOTS 

ARE USED. 

Section 156. All caucuses for the election of caucus officers. 

or for the nomination of candidates for any city or town office 

in any city or town held by a political party which hns 

4S 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

adopted the provisions of law for the use of official ballots 
shall be called and held as hereinafter provided. 

Section 157. Any city or town committee shall, at the 
written request of fifty voters, members of its party, call 
caucuses of said party to determine by ballot whether the 
provisions of law for the use of official ballots shall be adopted. 
The notice of said caucus shall state the purpose for which 
it is called, the place, the day and the hour, not earlier than 
six o'clock and not later than half-past seven o'clock in the 
evening, of holding said caucus. It shall be issued at least 
seven days prior to the day named therefor, and shall be pub- 
lished at least twice in one or more local newspapers, if there 
are any, and should be posted in at least five public places in 
each ward or town. The polls shall be kept open at least one 
hour. If said caucuses shall vote to adopt said provisions, all 
caucuses of said political party in said city or town shall 
thereafter be called and conducted accordingly. 

Section 158. A political party in a city or town which has 
accepted said special provisions may, not less than one year 
after the date of the caucus wherein such provisions were 
adopted, revoke such action at a caucus called and held in the 
manner provided in the preceding section. Upon the adoption 
of said provisions or upon the revocation of such adoption, the 
secretary of the city or town committee of such political party 
shall, within ten days thereafter, file with the secretary of the 
commonwealth and with the clerk of the city or town and the 
secretary of the state committee of the political party so 
voting, a notice thereof. 

Time of Holding. 

Section 159. All such caucuses of a political party for the 
choice of candidates for a city or town election, except cau- 
cuses relating to a special election, shall be held on the same 
day in each city and town. The city or town committee shall 
fix the days for holding all caucuses mentioned in this section, 
and all calls for the same shall be issued by its chairman and 
secretary. 

49 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

No two political parties shall hold their caucuses on the 
same day. The party first filing a copy of the call for a 
caucus with the city or town clerk, shall be entitled to pre- 
cedence as to the day so fixed. 

Section 160. Notice of caucuses in said cities or towns shall 
state the place where and the day and hour when nomination 
papers shall be issued; the place where and the earliest day 
and hour when such nomination papers may be filed, which 
time shall be not less than twenty-four week-day hours suc- 
ceeding three o'clock of the day fixed for issuing such papers; 
the place where and the day and hour prior to which such 
nomination papers shall be filed; and the day on which the 
several caucuses will be held, and shall be issued not less than 
eighteen days prior thereto. 

Polling Places, Etc. 

Section 161. At least two weeks prior to the day named 
for a caucus, the chairman or secretary of the city or town 
committee shall give notice of such date to the aldermen or 
to the selectmen, who shall, at least ten days prior to such 
date, notify the city or town committee of the places selected 
for holding the caucuses, and shall, at the expense of the city 
or town, provide polling places, in a city not less than one for 
each ward, and in cities and towns where elections or caucuses 
are held in voting precincts, one in each of such precincts, as 
the city or town committee shall designate, but not less than 
one for each ward, and furnish them with booths, registering 
ballot boxes, guard rails and the like as they are arranged 
for state elections, also postage for mailing credentials and 
notices or certificates of nomination and election. 

If twenty-five voters of a ward or of a town shall request in 
writing at least twelve days before any caucus of the political 
party to which they belong, the aldermen or selectmen shall 
so arrange the polling place of such ward or town as to allow 
voting to proceed in two or more lines at the caucus. 

Section 162. At least seven days prior to the day named 
for a caucus, the city or town committee shall issue a notice 
50 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

that such caucus will be held, stating the place, the day and 
the hour of holding the same. The hour shall not be earlier 
than two o'clock in the afternoon nor later than half-past 
seven o'clock in the evening. Notices relative to the filing of 
nomination papers or for caucuses shall be published at least 
twice in one or more local newspapers if there are any. 
Nomination Papers. 

Section 163. The city or town shall provide, and the city 
or town clerk shall seasonably prepare, for each political 
party, blank nomination papers for use in the different wards 
of the city or in the town. Such papers shall state the place 
where, and the day and hour prior to which, signed nomination 
papers shall be filed. On the back of each, sections one hun- 
dred and sixty-four to one hundred and seventy, inclusive, 
shall be printed. They shall be delivered to the chairman or 
secretary of the political committee for whose use they have 
been prepared, and to no other person. 

Section 164. Nominations of candidates for elective city or 
town officers and for caucus officers to be voted for at a caucus, 
shall be made by nomination papers, as hereinafter provided. 
Such nominations shall be made on the blank nomination 
papers prepared and delivered in accordance with the preceding 
section; and no nomination paper offered for filing shall be 
received or shall be valid to which is attached any card, paper 
or other device containing the name of a candidate, his written 
acceptance, or the signature of any voter required by this 
section. Such papers shall be signed in person by at least five 
voters of the ward or town in which the caucus is to be held, 
who shall be members of the political party holding the caucus, 
and who shall add to their signatures the street and number, 
if any, of their residences. Such papers for a district com- 
posed of more than one ward shall be signed by a number of 
voters equal in the aggregate to not less than five voters for 
each ward in said district. Nomination papers shall not con- 
tain a larger number of names of candidates than there are 
persons to be elected. No nomination papers shall be valid in 
51 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

respect to any candidate whose written acceptance is not 
thereon. No vacancy caused by the death, withdrawal or 
ineligibility of any of the above candidates shall be filled in 
the manner provided by law, unless the person entitled to lill 
such vacancy files the written acceptance of the candidate who 
is nominated to fill the vacancy. 

Section 165. The nomination paper for an elective office 
shall give the name of the candidate, the street and number, 
if any, of his residence, and may, in not more than eight 
words, state his occupation, the public offices he has held or 
that he is a candidate for renomination, provided that he is at 
the time an incumbent of the office for which he seeks re- 
nomination for another term, but not otherwise. 

The nomination paper of a candidate for a caucus office, 
shall state the street and number, if any, of his residence. 

Section 166. All nomination papers shall be sealed up and 
filed in the office of the secretary of the city or town com- 
mittee not less than ten week days previous to the day on 
which the caucus is to be held for which the nominations are 
made, and the secretary shall indorse upon them the time at 
which they are received by him. They shall not be opened 
until the time for their filing has expired, when the secretary, 
at his office, shall publicly open them and publicly announce 
the nominations therein made. 

Section 167. The secretary of the city or town committee 
shall immediately give notice to the person filing the nomina- 
tion paper of any error,* irregularity or informality appearing 
therein, and such person may, within two week days after the 
time when the nomination papers were opened, correct the 
same, or said secretary may make such correction. 

Section 168. If, in a city, nomination papers placing per- 
sons in nomination for all the offices to be filled at a caucus 



*"The words 'error, irregularity or informality, 1 cannol ivfer 
to anything the absence of which another sec! ion declares in 
effect, makes the paper invalid." — Decision of Judge Lothrop, 
Dean et al vs. Sands, Srpt. 20, 1808. 
52 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

in any ward are not filed, the secretary of the city committee 
shall forthwith notify the chairman or secretary of the com- 
mittee of such ward, who shall forthwith call a meeting of 
said committee, which may nominate candidates for all officers 
for which nomination papers have not been filed, and shall 
immediately file with the secretary of the city committee 
nomination papers signed by all the members of the committte 
who agree to the nominations therein made. In case of dis- 
agreement two sets of such nomination papers may be filed. 
If, at the expiration of two week days after the time at which 
nomination papers were opened, proper nomination papers 
have not been filed for all the offices to be filled, or upon any 
vacancy caused by death or otherwise, except a withdrawal, 
the chairman and secretary of the city committee may file 
nomination papers for such offices or vacancies. 

Section 169. If, in a town, nomination papers placing per- 
sons in nomination for all the offices to be filled at a caucus are 
not filed, or upon a vacancy by death or otherwise, except a 
.withdrawal, the chairman or secretary of the town committee 
shall forthwith call a meeting of said committee, which shall 
have all the powers relative to the nomination of candidates 
conferred in the preceding section upon a ward committee and 
the chairman and secretary of a city committee. 

Section 170. A person who is nominated by a nomination 
paper may, within forty-eight week-day hours succeeding five 
o'clock of the day fixed for opening nomination papers, with- 
draw his name from nomination by a request in writing signed 
by him with his own hand and filed with the secretary of the 
city or town committee. Thereupon, the secretary shall imme- 
diately give notice of such withdrawal and of the provisions of 
this section to the person who filed such nomination paper, 
and such person may, within twenty-four week-day hours suc- 
ceeding five o'clock of the last day fixed for making with- 
drawals, present a new name on a nomination paper signed by 
himself with his own hand; otherwise the chairman and secre- 
tary of the city or town committee may file nomination papers 
53 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

for the vacancy. If at any time subsequent to the expiration 
of the time for filling vacancies it shall appear that a vacancy 
has been created by death, the chairman of the city or town 
committee may file with the city or town clerk a new name 
to fill such vacancy; and if the time is sufficient therefor the 
new name shall be printed upon the official ballot. 

Section 171. Not less than seven week days before the day 
upon which the caucuses are to be held and before five o'clock 
in the afternoon of the last day, the secretary of each city or 
town committee shall deliver to the city or town clerk the 
nomination papers filed with him. 

Section 172. If an error or informality is found in any 
nomination paper, it shall be forthwith returned to the secre- 
tary of the committee by whom it was filed, for correction; 
and if it is not corrected and again filed before five o'clock 
in the afternoon of the day following its return to said secre- 
tary, it shall be void. 

Section 173. Objections to nomination papers, and all other 
questions relating thereto, shall be considered in cities by the 
board of registrars, the city clerk and the city solicitor; and 
in towns by the board of registrars. 

Preparation and Form of Ballots. 

Section 174. Ballots for each political and municipal party, 
ballot boxes, voting lists, specimen ballots, blank forms and 
apparatus, seals and record books, shall be provided and 
treated in accordance with the provisions of sections one hun- 
dred and four to one hundred and nine inclusive, so far as 
is applicable, except as follows: The chairman, and secretary 
of the city or town committee may determine the number of 
ballots to be provided for each ward or town, not exceeding 
one for each voter therein. If they fail so to do, the city or 
town clerk shall determine the number. 

Section 175. On the back and outside of each ballot when 
folded shall be printed the words "Official ballot of the (here 
shall be inserted the party name)", followed by the number 
54 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

of the precinct and ward or the name of the town for which 
the ballot is prepared, the date of the caucus and a facsimile 
of the signature of the secretary of the political committee. 

Ballots shall be printed on white paper. 

Names of candidates for caucus officers shall be arranged in 
groups in the order in which they are filed. 

Against the name of a candidate for an elective or caucus 
office shall be printed the street and number, if any, of his 
residence. 

A star (*) against a name shall indicate that a person is a 
candidate for re-election. 

Conduct of Caucuses. 

Section 176. Caucuses, except as herein otherwise provided, 
shall be held in general accordance with the provisions of law 
for the conduct of elections and the manner of voting thereat. 

Section 177. The order of business shall be as follows: — 

First, Any necessary preliminary business. 

Second, Balloting until half -past eight o'clock in the evening, 
when the polls shall be closed unless the caucus shall vote to 
keep them open until a later hour; but every voter waiting in 
line at the hour for closing the polls shall be allowed to vote. 

Third, After the polls have been closed, any other business 
which is properly before the caucus. 

Section 178. If the right of a person offering to vote is 
challenged for any legal cause, the presiding officer shall 
require him, or some one in his behalf, to write his name and 
residence on the outside of the ballot offered, and before it is 
received the presiding officer shall add thereto the name of the 
person challenging and the cause alleged for the challenge; but 
no caucus officer shall receive any ballot which by law he is 
required to refuse. No officer or other person shall give any 
information in regard to a ballot cast by a challenged voter 
unless required by law so to do. 

Counting of Ballots, Etc. 

Section 179. Immediately after the polls have been declared 
closed, but not before, the ballots shall be counted in full view 
55 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

of the voters. When they have been counted and the result 
has been ascertained, the presiding officer shall make public 
announcement thereof in open meeting, and the clerk shall, in 
open meeting, enter in words at length in the record book, the 
total number of names checked on the voting list, the total 
number of ballots cast, the names of all persons voted for, the 
number of votes for each person, and the title of the office for 
which he was a candidate. The clerk shall forthwith make a 
copy of said record, certify and seal the same, and transmit it 
to the city or town clerk. He shall then, before the adjourn- 
ment of the caucus, and in the presence of those who counted 
the same, seal up all ballots cast, with the voting lists used, 
and a statement of any challenge which may have been made. 

The warden and clerk shall endorse upon such package the 
name of the political party holding the caucus, its date, its 
purpose, and, if in a city, for what ward the ballots were cast. 
The warden shall forthwith transmit, by the officer detailed 
to attend the caucus, to the city or town clerk, the ballots 
cast, the voting lists, the ballot boxes, the ballot box seals, 
the counting apparatus, the copy of the records, and the 
record book. 

The city or town clerk shall safely keep such sealed 
packages for ten days. If within said time ten voters entitled 
to vote in said caucus file with them a written request so to 
do, they shall preserve said ballots and voting lists for three 
months and shall produce them if required by any court hav- 
ing jurisdiction or authority over the same. 

Section 180. The city or town clerk, upon written applica- 
tion, signed by at least ten voters of a ward or town, for a 
copy of a list as checked, may open the envelope containing 
the voting list used at any caucus in such ward or town and 
shall furnish to them a certified copy thereof as checked. 
Recount of Ballots. 

Section 181. If before five o'clock in the afternoon of the 
second day next succeeding the day of any caucus, ten or 
more voters of any town or ward shall sign, adding thereto 
56 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

their respective residences on the first day of April of that 
year, and file with the city or town clerk, a statement 
under oath that the records and returns made by the 
caucus officers of such town or ward are erroneous, specify- 
ing the error, or that challenged votes were cast by persons 
not entitled to vote therein, said city or town clerk shall 
forthwith transmit such statement to the registrars of 
voters with the sealed package containing the ballots and 
voting lists, and said registrars shall give notice in writing to 
the person affected, fixing a place and time, as early as may 
be, at which said ballots will be recounted and at such, place 
and time shall open the packages containing the ballots and 
voting lists and recount said ballots and determine the ques- 
tions raised, and shall reject any challenged vote cast by a 
person found not to have been entitled to vote; and such 
recount shall stand as the true result of the vote cast in such 
caucus. Each candidate affected may be present during such 
recount, or may be represented by an agent appointed by him 
in writing. If it shall appear upon a recount that persons 
were nominated or elected other than those declared to have 
been nominated or elected, certificates of such change shall be 
made as in the case of the original certificate. 

Caucus Officers. 
Section 182. At the caucus held for the choice of candidates 
for a city or town election there shall be chosen annually a 
warden, a clerk, and at least five inspectors, and, in wards 
having more than five precincts such additional inspectors as 
the city committee of the political party whose caucuses are 
to be held may determine. They shall be voters of the ward 
or town in which they are elected and members of the political 
party whose caucus is to be held. ISTo person shall be eligible 
to the position of warden or clerk or inspector who is a state, 
county or city employee, or who is a member of a ward or 
town committee, and no person shall serve as a caucus officer 
at any caucus wherein he is a candidate for a nomination to 
5? 



CAUCUSES USING OFFICIAL BALLOTS. 

an elective office. Every caucus officer shall hold office for 
one year, beginning with the first day of the month succeed- 
ing his election, and until his successor is elected. He shall, 
before entering upon the performance of his duties, be sworn 
to the faithful performance thereof by the warden, clerk, or a 
justice of the peace, and a record of such oath shall be made 
upon the record book of such caucus. The respective duties 
of caucus officers shall be in general the same as are required 
of election officers at elections. 

Section 183. A majority of the caucus officers present at a 
caucus, may fill temporary vacancies and elect additional 
officers to serve in that caucus only. Such temporary officers 
shall be duly sworn. Permanent vacancies shall be filled by a 
majority vote of all the caucus officers. 

Section 184. A city or town committee of a political party 
which has adopted the provisions of law for the use of official 
ballots shall, at least ten days before holding any caucus 
thereunder, appoint caucus officers in each ward, town, or vot- 
ing precinct in cities and towns where elections or caucuses are 
held in such precincts, to serve at the first caucus to be held 
thereafter. 

Section 185. In a newly incorporated city, or upon a re- 
division into wards of a city to which the said provisions 
apply, the caucus officers to serve in the first caucuses held 
in the next succeeding year shall be appointed by the city 
committee; and at such caucuses the regular caucus officers 
shall be chosen. Where additional polling places are provided, 
after the election of caucus officers, officers to act in such 
polling places shall be appointed by the city committee. 

186-189 — Applies to caucuses other than tho^e of political parties. 

Nomination of Candidates. 

Section 190. Except as provided in this act, no nominations 
of candidates for public office shall be made and no political 
committee or delegates to conventions shall be elected. 

Section 191. No nomination of a candidate to be voted for 
in an electoral district or division containing more than one 



NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES. 

town or more than one ward of a city, shall be made by 
primaries or caucuses, except where such candidate is to be 
nominated by direct plurality vote. 

Section 192. Each party may, at primaries, caucuses or 
conventions held in accordance with the provisions of this act, 
make as many nominations of candidates for each office as 
there are persons to be elected thereto, and no more, and 
shall be entitled to have the names of such candidates placed 
upon the official ballot. A party may make a nomination for 
an office to be filled by election in the commonwealth, or in 
any district, county, city, town or ward, when at the five pre- 
ceding annual elections it polled in the commonwealth, or in 
such district, county, city, town or ward, respectively, a num- 
ber of votes for governor equal to the number of voters 
required to nominate by nomination papers a candidate for 
the office so to be filled. 

Such party shall be entitled to have the names of all can- 
didates so nominated placed upon the official ballot upon filing 
a certificate of nomination as hereinafter provided. 

Section 193. The nomination of candidates of political 
parties for all offices to be filled at a state election, excepting 
the office of presidential elector, shall be by direct plurality 
vote in primaries, and the candidates of political parties for 
elective city offices to be voted for in two or more wards, 
except in Boston, and in other cities when city charters pro- 
vide otherwise, shall be nominated by direct plurality vote in 
primaries or caucuses. 

The persons who in the aggregate of all the ballots cast at 
such primaries or caucuses in each district for the several 
candidates shall receive the highest number of votes shall be 
the candidates nominated. 

No person whose name is not printed on a state primary 

ballot as a candidate for nomination for any office shall be 

entitled to have his name printed on the ballot to be used 

at a state election as a candidate for that office unless he files 

59 



NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES. 

in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth, before the 
last hour for filing nominations for the office for which the 
candidate is nominated, a written acceptance of the nomina 
tion. 

Section 194. All provisions of law relative to the prepara- 
tion of nomination papers and ballots, to primaries, caucuses 
and elections, to ballots cast at primaries, caucuses and elec- 
tions, recounts of such ballots, shall so far as they are appli- 
cable, apply to caucuses held for direct nominations. 
Conventions. 

Section 195. No convention to nominate candidates shall 
be called for or held on a date earlier than four days after the 
holding of the caucuses for the choice of delegates thereto, 
and all such conventions shall be called for and held on a date 
not later than forty-eight hours prior to the hour for filing 
certificates of nomination as provided in section two hundred 
and three. 

Section 196. The clerk of a city or town wherein caucuses 
are held by precincts or by groups of precincts in any one 
ward, immediately upon receipt of the returns from the 
caucus officers, which shall be made as provided in section one 
hundred and seventy-nine, shall tabulate and determine the 
results thereof, and issue proper certificates to the successful 
candidates. 

Section 197. Every certificate of nomination shall state 
such facts as are required by section two hundred and one and 
except in cases of direct nomination for a district comprising 
more than one ward and except where caucuses are held in one 
precinct or by groups of precincts in any ward, shall be signed 
by the presiding officer and by the secretary of the caucus, 
who shall add to their signatures their residences, and shall 
make oath to the truth thereof. The secretary of the caucus 
shall within the seventy-two hours succeeding five o'clock in 
the afternoon of the day upon which the caucus was held and 
within the time specified in section two hundred and three, 
file such certificate as hereinafter provided. 
60 



NOMINATION BY NOMINATION PAPERS. 

Nomination by Nomination Papers. 

Section 198. Nominations of candidates for any offices to 
be filled by all the voters of the commonwealth may be made 
by nomination papers, stating the facts required by section 
two hundred and one and signed in the aggregate by not less 
than one thousand voters for each candidate. Nominations of 
all other candidates for offices to be filled at a state election, 
and of all candidates for offices to be filled at a city election, 
except in Boston, and in other cities where city charters pro- 
vide otherwise, may be made by like nomination papers, signed 
in the aggregate, for each candidate, by two voters for every 
one hundred votes cast for governor at the preceding annual 
state election in the electorial district or division for which 
the officers are to be elected, but in no case by less than fifty 
nor more than one thousand qualified voters. In Boston the 
nomination of candidates for any municipal elective office to 
be voted for at the municipal election in said city shall be 
made by nomination papers, prepared and issued by the 
election commissioners, signed in person by at least five 
thousand registered voters in said city qualified to vote for 
such candidates at said election. Nominations of candidates 
for offices to be filled at a town election may be made by nom- 
ination papers, signed by at least one voter for every fifty 
votes polled for governor at the preceding annual state election 
in such town, but in no case by less than twenty voters. At 
a first election to be held in a newly established ward of a 
city, the number of voters upon a nomination paper of a 
candidate who is to be voted for only in such ward need not 
exceed fifty; and at a first election in a town the number for 
the nomination of a candidate who is to be voted for only in 
such town need not exceed twenty. 

Section 199. Every voter who signs a nomination paper 
shall sign it in person, with his full surname, his Christian 
name and the initial of every other name which he may have, 
and shall add his residence on the previous first day of April 
and the place where he is then living, with the street and 
61 



NOMINATION P.Y NOMINATION PAPERS. 

number thereof, if any, to his signature; but any voter who is 
prevented by a physical disability from writing or who had the 
right to vote on the first day of May in the year eighteen 
hundred and fifty-seven, may authorize some person to write 
his name and residence in his presence; and every voter may 
sign as many nomination papers for each office to be filled as 
there are persons to be elected thereto, and no more. Women 
who are qualified to vote may sign nomination papers for 
candidates for the school committee. Every nomination paper 
shall, before being filed, be seasonably submitted to the regis- 
trars of the city or town in which the signers appear to be 
voters, and in Boston to the election commissioners, who shall 
forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are 
names of voters both in the city or town and in the district 
or division for which the nomination is made. They need not 
certify a greater number of names than are required to make 
a nomination, with one fifth of such number added thereto. 
Names not certified in the first instance shall not thereafter 
be certified on the same nomination papers. The secretary 
of the commonwealth shall not be required in any case to file 
nomination papers for a candidate after filing such papers 
containing a sufficient number of certified names to make a 
nomination, with one fifth of such number added thereto. 
One of the signers to each nomination paper shall make oath 
to the truth of the statements therein, and the certification of 
such oath and the post office address of the signer shall be 
annexed to such paper. 

Section 200. A notary public, justice of the peace or other 
magistrate, when taking the oath of a signer of a nomination 
paper, shall satisfy himself that the person to whom the oath 
is administered is the person signing such nomination paper, 
and shall so state in his attestation of said oath. 

Certificates of Nominations and Nomination Papers. 

Section 201. All certificates of nomination and nomination 
papers shall, in addition to the names of candidates, specify 
as to each: (1) his residence with street and number thereof, 
62 



NOMINATION BY NOMINATION PAPERS. 

if any; (2) the office for which he is nominated; and (3), ex- 
cept in the city of Boston, in other cities where city charters 
provide otherwise and as hereinafter provided the party or 
political principle which he represents, expressed in not more 
than three words. Certificates of nomination shall also state 
what provision, if any, was made by the caucus for filling 
vacancies caused by the death, withdrawal or ineligibility of 
candidates. The names of the candidates for president and 
vice president of the United States may be added to the party 
or political designation of the candidates for presidential 
electors. To the name of each candidate for the office of 
alderman at large shall be added the number of the ward in 
which he resides. 

If a candidate is nominated otherwise than by a political 
party, the name of a political party shall not be used in his 
political designation, except as describing and preceding some 
other name or term which shall not be the name of any party 
which cast at the last preceding election more than three 
thousand votes for governor; and if so used in case of a can- 
didate nominated by a nomination paper, the political designa- 
tion shall consist of not more than two words and shall not 
be changed after having been placed upon the paper. Certifi- 
cates of nomination and nomination papers for town officers 
may or may not include a designation of the party or principle 
which the candidate represents. If a candidate receives the 
nomination of a political party, and fails to withdraw there- 
from, the name of any other political party shall not be used 
in his political designation unless he shall have received the 
regular nomination of such other political party. 
Filing of Certificates of Nomination and Nomination Papers. 

Section 202. Certificates of nomination and nomination 
papers for state offices shall be filed with the secretary of the 
commonwealth. Certificates of nomination or nomination 
papers for city and town offices shall be filed with the city 
or town clerk, in Boston with the election commissioners. 
Every nomination paper shall be filed by a responsible person, 
63 



NOMINATION BY NOMINATION PAPERS. 

who shall with his own hand sign such paper and add to his 
signature his place of residence, giving street and number, if 
any; and the secretary of the commonwealth or the city or 
town clerk shall require a satisfactory identification of such 
person. No nomination paper shall be received or be valid 
unless the written acceptance of the candidate thereby nom- 
inated shall be filed therewith. 

Section 203. Certificates of nomination of candidates for 
offices to be filled by all voters of the commonwealth, except 
for presidential electors, shall be filed on or before the fifth 
Monday, and of all other candidates for offices to be filled at a 
state election, including presidential electors, on or before the 
third Thursday, and nomination papers of all candidates for 
offices to be filled at a state election, on or before the fourth 
Monday, preceding the day of the election; but if there is a 
special election to fill any state office, certificates of nomina- 
tion shall be filed on or before the twelfth day, and nomination 
papers on or before the eleventh day, preceding the day of such 
election. 

In cities, except where city charters provide otherwise, cer- 
tificates of nomination for city offices shall be filed on or before 
the third Monday, and nomination papers on or before the sec- 
ond Wednesday preceding the day of the election. 

In Boston, nomination papers for all municipal offices shall 
be filed on or before the twenty-fifth day prior to the munici- 
pal election. 

In towns, certificates of nomination for town offices shall 
be filed on or before the second Wednesday, and nomination 
papers, on or before the second Thursday, preceding the day of 
the election; but if such Wednesday or Thursday falls on a 
legal holiday, said certificates of nomination or nomination 
papers shall be filed on or before the succeeding day; but if a 
town election is held on a day of the week other than Mon- 
day, such certificates of nomination and" nomination papers 
shall be filed respectively on or before the twelfth and eleventh 
days preceding the day of the election. 
64 



NOMINATION BY NOMINATION PAPERS. 

Certificates of nomination and nomination papers shall be 
filed before five o'clock in the afternoon of the last day fixed 
for the fifing thereof. 

Objections to Nomination Papers. 

Section 204. When certificates of nomination and nomina- 
tion papers have been filed, and are in apparent conformity 
with law, they shall be valid unless objections thereto 
are made in writing. Such objections to nominations of can- 
didates for state offices shall be filed with the secretary of 
the commonwealth, for city offices with the city clerk, or in 
Boston with the election commissioners, and for town offices 
with the town clerk; and in the case of state offices within 
the seventy-two week-day hours, in the case of city offices, 
except in Boston, and in other cities where city charters pro- 
vide otherwise, within the forty-eight week-day hours, and in 
the case of town offices within the twenty-four week-day hours 
succeeding five o'clock in the afternoon of the last day fixed 
for the filing of nomination papers for such offices. In Boston 
such objections shall be filed on or before five o'clock p. m. on 
the fourteenth day preceding the city election. 

Section 205. Objections to nominations for state offices, and 
all other questions relating thereto, shall be considered by the 
state ballot law commission; to nominations for city offices, 
except in Boston, by the board of registrars, the city clerk and 
the city solicitor; in Boston, by the ballot law commission of 
said city; and to nominations for town offices, by the board 
of registrars. 

The boards constituted in cities and towns may, at hearings 
on such objections and question, summon witnesses, administer 
oaths and require the production of books and papers. Such 
witnesses shall be summoned in the same manner, be paid the 
same fees, and be subject to the same penalties for default, 
as witnesses before the superior court. A summons may bt 
signed, and an oath may be administered by any member of 
such board, and the decision of a majority of the members 
thereof shall be final. 

65 



NOMINATION BY NOMINATION PAPERS. 

When such objection has been filed, notice thereof shall be 
forthwith mailed by the secretary of the commonwealth, or 
by the city or town clerk, or election commissioners, respec- 
tively, to the candidates affected thereby, addressed to their 
residences as given in the certificates of nomination or nomina- 
tion papers, and to any party committee interested in the 
nomination to which objection is made. 

If more candidates bearing the same designation are nom- 
inated for an office, otherwise than by nomination papers, than 
are to be elected thereto, such boards shall determine the 
candidates, if any, entitled to such designation. 
Withdrawals, Vacancies, Etc. 

Section 206. " A person nominated as a candidate for any 
state, city or town office may withdraw his name from nom- 
ination by a request in writing signed by him and acknowl- 
edged before a justice of the peace and filed with the officer 
with whom the nomination was filed, in the case of a state 
office within the seventy-two week-day hours, in the case 
of a city office, except in Boston, and in other cities where 
city charters provide otherwise, within forty-eight week-day 
hours, and in the case of a town office within the twenty-four 
week-day hours, succeeding five o'clock in the afternoon of the 
last day fixed for the filing of nomination papers for such 
office. In Boston such withdrawals shall be filed on or before 
five o'clock p. m. on the fourteenth day preceding the city 
election. 

Section 207. If a candidate nominated for a state, city or 
town office dies before the day of election, or withdraws his 
name from nomination, or is found to be ineligible, the 
vacancy for a city office in Boston may be filled by a com- 
mittee of not less than five persons, or a majority thereof, if 
such committee be named, and so authorized in the nomination 
papers, and the vacancy for a state, city or town office else- 
where, except for a city office where city charters provide 
otherwise, may be filled by the same political party or persons 
who made the original nomination, and in the same manner; 
66 



NOMINATION BY NOMINATION PAPERS. 

or, if the time is insufficient therefor, the vacancy may be 
filled, if the nomination was made by a convention or caucus, 
in such manner as the convention or caucus may have pre- 
scribed, or, if no such provision has been made, by a regularly 
elected general or executive committee representing the politi- 
cal party or persons who held such convention or caucus. In 
the event of the withdrawal or death of any candidate of a 
political party nominated by direct nomination for any office, 
the vacancy may be filled by a regularly elected general or 
executive committee representing the election district in which 
such vacancy occurs, or, if no such committee exists, by the 
members of the ward and town committees in the wards and 
towns comprising such district. If a vacancy is caused by 
withdrawal, certificates of nomination made otherwise than 
in the original manner shall be filed within seventy-two week- 
day hours in the case of state offices, or within forty-eight 
week-day hours in the case of city or town offices, succeeding 
five o'clock in the afternoon of the last day for filing with- 
drawals, except that in Boston all substitutions to fill 
vacancies caused by withdrawal or ineligibility shall be filed 
with the election commissioners on or before five o'clock p. m. 
on the twelfth day preceding the city election. They shall be 
open to objections in the same manner, so far as practicable, 
as other certificates of nomination. No vacancy caused by 
withdrawal shall be filled before the withdrawal has been 
filed. 

Section 208. When a nomination is made to fill a vacancy 
caused by the death, withdrawal or ineligibility of a candidate, 
the certificate of nomination shall, in addition to the other 
facts required, state the name of the original nominee, the fact 
of his death, withdrawal or ineligibility, and the proceedings 
had for filling the vacancy; and the presiding officer and secre- 
tary of the convention or caucus, or the chairman and sec- 
retary of an authorized committee, shall sign and make oath 
to the truth of the certificate, and it shall be accompanied by 
the written acceptance of the candidate nominated. 
67 



STATE BALLOT LAW COMMISSION. 

Section 209. Certificates of nomination, nomination papers, 
objections thereto and withdrawals, when filed, shall, under 
proper regulations, be open to public inspection, and the secre- 
tary of the commonwealth and the several city and town 
clerks, and in Boston the election commissioners, shall preserve 
the same in their respective offices for one year. 

Section 210. The secretary of the commonwealth shall 
upon application, provide blank forms for the nomination of 
candidates for all state offices; and he shall send blank forms 
for certificates of nomination for the office of representative 
in the general court to the clerk of each city and town for the 
use of any caucus or convention other than of political parties 
held therein for the nomination of candidates for that office. 
He shall likewise provide the clerks of towns wherein official 
ballots are used with blank forms for the nomination of candi- 
dates for town offices. 

State Ballot Law Commission. 
Section 211. There shall be a state ballot law commission 
consisting of three persons, one of whom shall annually in 
June or July be appointed by the governor with the advice and 
consent of the council, for a term of three years from the suc- 
ceeding first day of August. The governor with the advice ami 
consent of the council may remove any member of the com- 
mission or fill any vacancy therein for the remainder of the 
unexpired term. There shall always be on said commission a 
member of each of the two leading political parties. 

Section 212. No member of said commission shall hold any 
public office except that of justice of the peace or notary 
public, or be a candidate for public office, or member or em- 
ployee of any political committee. If any member of the 
commission shall be nominated as a candidate for public office 
and shall not in writing decline said nomination within three 
days, he shall be deemed to have vacated his office ns a 
member of said commission. 

Section 213. The state ballot law commission may summon 
witnesses, and administer to them oaths, and may require the 
68 



ELECTIONS. 

production of books and papers at a hearing before it upon 
any matter within its jurisdiction. Witnesses shall be sum- 
moned in the same manner, be paid the same fees, and be 
subject to the same penalties as witnesses summoned before 
the general court. A summons may be signed and an oath 
may be administered by any member of said commission. 

Section 214. The decision of a majority of the members of 
the commission upon any matter within its jurisdiction shall 
be final. 

Section 215. The members of the state ballot law commis- 
sion shall each be paid such compensation for their services, 
not exceeding five hundred dollars annually, as the governor 
and council may determine; and the total expenditures by and 
on account of said commission shall not exceed the sum of 
two thousand dollars in any one year. 

Sections 216-225. Provide for wards and voting precincts. 

Sections 226-239. Provide for the appointment of election 
officers. 

Section 240. Provides for the appointment of supervisors 
at elections. 

Sections 241-242. Relate to voting places for elections. 

Sections 243-256. Relate to ballot boxes, voting machines, 
counting, apparatus and blanks. 

Sections 257-264. Relate to the preparation and form of 
ballots. 

Sections 265-273. Relate to information to voters. 

Sections 274-276. Relate to delivery of ballots, etc. 

Time of Holding Annual State Election. 
Section 277. The annual state election for the choice of 
governor, lieutenant governor, councillors, secretary, treasurer 
and receiver general, attorney-general, auditor of the com- 
monwealth, and senators and representatives in the general 
court, shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Mon- 
day in November. There shall also be chosen at the annual 
state election, when required by law, presidential electors, and, 
69 



ELECTIONS. 

in their respective districts or counties, representatives in con- 
gress, district attorneys, clerks of the courts, registers of pro- 
bate and insolvency, registers of deeds, county commissioners, 
associate commissioners, sheriffs and county treasurers. 

Sections 278-279. Relate to calling of elections. 

Sections 280-290. Relate to conduct of elections. 

Sections 291-300. Relate to manner of voting at elections. 

Sections 301-306. Relate to counting of votes at elections. 

Section 308. The aldermen and city clerk, in Boston the 
election commissioners, and the selectmen and town clerks in 
towns divided into voting precincts, shall forthwith after a 
state or city election examine the copies of the records of the 
election officers, and if any error appears therein, they shall 
forthwith give notice thereof to the officers by whom the error 
was made, who shall forthwith make an additional record 
under oath in conformity with the facts and deliver a copy 
thereof to the city or town clerk or election commissioners. 
Such copy of the records made, with or without notice as 
aforesaid, shall be received by the city or town clerks or 
election commissioners at any time before the last day fixed 
for the transmission of copies of records of the votes cast in 
the city or town, or on which the results of the election are 
required to be declared. 

The aldermen and city clerk, the election commissioners, 
and the selectmen and town clerk, shall examine all original 
and all additional copies of the records and make them part of 
the records for such election, and shall certify and attest 
copies of the records of votes for the several candidates. 

Section 307-334. Relate to records and certificates of 
election. 

Sections 331-334. Relate to recounts of votes at elections. 

Sections 335-344. Relate to proceedings in cases of failure 
to elect and vacancies in state offices. 

Sections 345-346. Relate to proceedings in presidential 
elections. 

70 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

Corrupt Practices. 

Section 347. No person shall, in order to aid or promote his 
own nomination or election to a public office, directly or indi- 
rectly, himself or through another person, promise to appoint, 
or promise to secure or assist in securing the appointment, 
nomination or election of another person to a public position 
or employment or to a position of honor, trust or emolument, 
except that he may announce or define what is his choice or 
purpose in relation to an election in which he may be called 
to take part, if elected. 

Section 348. No person shall, in order to aid or promote 
his own nomination or election to a public office, directly or 
indirectly, himself or through another person, give, pay, ex- 
pend or contribute, or promise to give, pay, expend or con- 
tribute, any money or other valuable thing, except for 
personal expenses or to a political committee as herein- 
after provided. The words "personal expenses," as used in 
this chapter, shall include only expenses directly incurred and 
paid by a person for travelling and for purposes properly inci- 
dental to travelling; for writing, printing and preparing for 
transmission and distribution any letter, circular, or other 
publication, wherein is stated his position or views upon public 
or other questions; for stationery and postage; for telegraph, 
telephone and messenger service, expressage, and for preparing, 
circulating and filing nomination papers, and for the hire of 
not more than one conveyance to be used at each polling place 
at primaries only. 

No person not a candidate for nomination or election, and 
no political committee, as defined in section one shall, in order 
to aid, promote or defeat the nomination or election of any 
person to public office, pay, expend or contribute, or promise 
to pay, expend or contribute, any money or valuable thing 
except in good faith for the following purposes: advertising, 
rent and maintenance of political headquarters, meetings, re- 
freshments other than intoxicating liquors, decorations and 
music, postage, stationery, printing, expressage, travelling ex- 
71 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

penscs of candidates, committees, speakers and clerks, tele- 
phone, telegraph, messenger service and clerk hire, and for 
preparing, circulating and filing nomination papers; but a 
political committee may expend money for the hire of not 
more than one conveyance to be used at each polling place at 
elections only. 

Section 349. A person who is a candidate for nomination or 
who is nominated as a candidate or voted for with his assent 
for public office, may make a voluntary payment of money or 
a voluntary and unconditional promise of payment of money 
to a political committee for the promotion of the principles 
of the party which it represents, or for its general purposes. 
No candidate for nomination or election or both, shall in any 
one election, including the primary therefor, make or incur, 
directly or indirectly, any payments, expenditures, promises 
or liabilities under this section which exceed in the whole 
twenty-five dollars for each one thousand or major portion 
thereof of the registered voters qualified to vote for the office 
in question at the next preceding election, but no candidate 
shall expend more than five thousand dollars, and any candi- 
date may expend at least one hundred and fifty dollars for 
the said purposes. 

Section 350. No person shall, directly or indirectly, him- 
self or through another person, make a payment or promise of 
payment to a political committee or to any person acting 
under its authority or in its behalf, in any name except hia 
own; nor shall such committee or person knowingly receive a 
payment or promise of payment, or enter or cause the same 
to be entered in the accounts or records of such committee, in 
any other name than that of the person by whom it is made. 

Section 351. No person or persons, no political committee 
and no person acting under the authority of a political com- 
mittee or in its behalf, shall demand, solicit, ask or invite from 
a person who is a candidate for nomination or election to pub- 
lic office, or who is occupying an elective public office, any 
payment or gift of money or other valuable thing, or promise 
72 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

of payment or gift of money or other valuable thing for adver- 
tising, gratuities, donations, tickets, programmes, or any other 
purpose whatsoever; and no such candidate for nomination or 
election, and no one who is occupying an elective public office, 
shall make any such payment or gift, or promise to make any 
such payment or gift, to any person or persons, political com- 
mittee, or any person acting under the authority of a political 
committee, if such person or political committee has demanded, 
solicited, asked, or invited from him any such payment, gift or 
promise of payment or gift; but this provision shall not apply 
to the soliciting or making in good faith of gifts for charitable 
or religious purposes. 

Section 352. No political committee, and no person acting 
under its authority or in its behalf, shall demand or solicit 
from any person who is a candidate for nomination to elective 
office, or from any one acting in his behalf, a payment of 
money or promise of payment of money, as a prerequisite to 
his obtaining from such committee or its agent the nomina- 
tion papers required by the provisions of sections one hundred 
and sixty-three to one hundred and seventy, inclusive. 

Section 353. No business corporation incorporated under 
the laws of, or doing business in this commonwealth, and no 
officer or agent acting in behalf of such corporation, shall 
directly or indirectly give, pay, expend or contribute, or prom- 
ise to give, pay, expend or contribute any money or other valu- 
able thing in order to aid, promote or prevent the nomination 
or election of any person to public office, or in order to aid, 
promote or antagonize the interests of any political party. No 
person or persons, no political committee and no person acting 
under the authority of a political committee, or in its behalf, 
shall solicit or receive from such corporation any such gift, 
payment, expenditure or contribution, or any promise to give, 
pay, expend or contribute. 

Section 354. No person shall publish or cause to be pub- 
lished in a newspaper or other periodical, either in its adver- 
tising or reading columns, any paid matter which is designed 
73 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

or tends to aid, injure, or defeat any candidate for public 
office or a constitutional amendment or any other question 
submitted to the voters, unless the name of the chairman or 
secretary or the names of two officers of the political or 
other organization inserting the same, or the name of some 
voter who is responsible therefor, with his residence and the 
street and number thereof, if any, appear therein in the nature 
of a signature. Such matter inserted in reading columns shall 
be preceded or followed by the word "Advertisement" in a 
separate line, in type not smaller than that of the body type 
of the newspaper or other periodical. 

Section 355. No person shall pay the owner, editor, pub- 
lisher, or agent of a newspaper or other periodical to induce 
him editorially to advocate or oppose any candidate for public 
office or political principle, or a constitutional amendment or 
any other question submitted to the voters; and no such 
owner, editor, publisher, or agent shall accept such payment. 
This provision shall not apply to the outright purchase of 
such newspaper or periodical. 

Section 356. No corporation carrying on the business of a 
bank, trust, surety, indemnity, safe deposit, insurance, rail- 
road, street railway, telegraph, telephone, gas, electric light, 
heat, power, canal, aqueduct, or water company, or any com- 
pany having the right to take or condemn land or to exercise 
franchises in public ways, granted by the commonwealth or by 
any county, city or town, and no trustee or trustees owning 
or holding the majority of the stock of such a corporation, 
shall pay or contribute in order to aid, promote, or prevent the 
nomination or election of any person to public office, or in 
order to aid, promote or antagonize the interests of any politi- 
cal party, or to influence or affect the vote on any question 
submitted to the voters. No person shall solicit or receive 
such payment or contribution from such corporation or such 
holders of stock; provided, however, that this section shall 
not be construed to prevent the bona fide publication or cir- 
culation by such a corporation, or such trustee or trustees, of 
74 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

paid matter when under a referendum or question submitted 
to the voters, the taking, purchasing or acquiring of any of 
the property, business or assets of the corporation is involved, 
provided that the name of the corporation appears therein in 
the nature of a signature, and that if inserted as reading 
matter, such matter is preceded or followed by the word 
"Advertisement," in the manner required by section three 
hundred and fifty-four. 

Section 357. No political committee and no person who is 
required to file a statement shall make any payment or prom- 
ise of payment of money to or in behalf of any person for 
naturalization fees or for services as counsel or otherwise in 
assisting any one to obtain naturalization. 

Section 358. Every political committee shall have a treas- 
urer, who is a voter of the commonwealth, and shall cause him 
to keep detailed accounts of all money or its equivalent, re- 
ceived by or promised to the committee, or by or to any person 
acting under its authority or in its behalf, and of all expendi- 
tures, disbursements and promises of payment or disbursement 
made by the committee or by any person acting under its 
authority or in its behalf. No person acting under its author- 
ity or behalf shall receive any money or its equivalent, or 
expend or disburse the same, until the committee has chosen 
a treasurer. 

The number of persons that may be employed by political 
committees in cities for any purpose, except as caucus officers, 
shall not exceed six persons in each voting precinct of the city. 
In cities, or parts thereof, not divided into precincts, the num- 
ber shall not exceed six for each ward. 

Section 359. Whoever, acting under the authority or in 
behalf of a political committee, receives any money or its 
equivalent, or promise of the same, or expends or incurs any 
liability to pay the same, shall, on demand, and in any event 
within fourteen days after such receipt, expenditure, promise 
or liability, give to the treasurer a detailed account of the 
same, with all vouchers required by this chapter, which shall 
75 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

be a part of the accounts and files of such treasurer. 

Section 360. The treasurer of every political committee 
which receives, expends or disburses any money or its equiva- 
lent, or incurs any liability to pay money in connection with 
any nomination or election to an amount exceeding twenty 
dollars, shall, within thirty days after such election, file a 
statement setting forth all the receipts, expenditures, disburse- 
ments and liabilities of the committee and of every officer and 
other person acting under its authority or in its behalf. It 
shall include the amount in each, case received, the name of 
the person or committee from whom received, the date of its 
receipt, the amount of every expenditure or disbursement, the 
name of the person or committee to whom it was made, and 
the date thereof; and, unless such expenditure or disbursement 
was made to another political committee, shall clearly state 
the purpose of such expenditure or disbursement; also the 
date and amount of every existing promise or liability, both 
to and from such committee, remaining unfulfilled and in force 
when the statement is made, the name of the person or com- 
mittee to or from whom the unfulfilled promise or liability 
exists, and a clear statement of the purpose for which the 
promise or liability Avas made or incurred. If the aggregate 
receipts or disbursements of a political committee in connec- 
tion with any election shall not exceed twenty dollars, the 
treasurer of the committee shall, within thirty days after the 
election, certify the fact under oath to the secretary of the 
commonwealth. 

Section 361. Whoever, acting otherwise than under the 
authority or in behalf of a political committee having a treas- 
urer, receives money or its equivalent, or expends or disburses, 
or promises to expend or disburse money or its equivalent, to 
an amount exceeding twenty dollars, to aid or promote the 
success or defeat of a political party or principle in any 
election, or to aid or influence the nomination, election or 
defeat of a candidate for office, shall file in the city or town 
in which he is a voter, the statement required by the prcced- 
76 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

ing section, and shall be subject to all the duties required by 
this chapter of a political committee or the treasurer thereof; 
but no person except a voter of the commonwealth shall re- 
ceive, expend or disburse any money or its equivalent or prom- 
ise to expend or disburse any money or its equivalent, for 
either of the purposes above named, except for personal ex- 
penses as is herein provided, or under the authority or in 
behalf of a political committee. 

Section 362. Every candidate for nomination to a public 
office shall, within seven days after the last day for filing 
nominations for that office, and every candidate for election 
to a public office shall within seven days after the election 
held to fill the office, file a statement in writing setting forth 
each sum of money and thing of value expended, contributed 
or promised by him, for the purpose of securing or in any way 
affecting his nomination or election to the office, and the name 
of the person or political committee to whom the payment, 
contribution or promise was made and the date thereof. 

Section 363. The statement required to be filed by a candi- 
date, treasurer or other person shall be filed with the clerk 
of the city or town in which such candidate, treasurer or other 
person is a voter. In case the nomination to which such state- 
ment related is a nomination to a state or national office, or 
the election is a state or national election, a duplicate shall be 
filed with the secretary of the commonwealth. Whoever 
makes a statement required by the provisions of this chapter 
shall make an oath that it is in all respects correct and true 
to the best of his knowledge and belief. 

Section 364. The secretary of the commonwealth shall in- 
spect all statements filed with him, and the clerks of cities 
shall inspect all statements relating to nominations and to 
city elections filed with them, within sixty days after the 
election to which they relate, and if upon examination of the 
official ballot it appears that any person has failed to file a 
statement as required by law, or if it appears to the secretary 
than any such statement filed with him does not conform to 
77 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

law, or if it appears to a city clerk that such statement relat- 
ing to a city nomination or election does not conform to law, 
or upon complaint in writing by five registered voters that a 
statement does not conform to law, or that any person has 
failed to file a statement required by law, the secretary or 
city clerk shall in writing notify the delinquent person. Such 
complaint shall state in detail the grounds of objection, shall 
be sworn to by one of the subscribers, and shall be filed with 
the secretary or with the proper city clerk within ninety days 
after the election, in question, or within sixty days after the 
filing of a statement or amended statement. 

Section 365. Upon the failure to file a statement within ten 
days after receiving notice under the preceding section, or if 
any statement filed as above discloses any violation of any 
provision of this chapter relating to corrupt practices in elec- 
tions, the secretary of the commonwealth or the city clerk, as 
the case may be, shall notify the attorney-general thereof 
and shall furnish him with copies of all papers relating there- 
to, and the attorney -general, within two months thereafter, 
shall examine every such case, and if he is satisfied that there 
is cause, he shall in the name of the commonwealth institute 
appropriate civil proceedings or refer the case to the proper 
district attorney for such action as may be appropriate in the 
criminal courts. 

Section 366. The supreme judicial court or the superior 
court may compel any person who fails to file a statement as 
above required, or who files a statement which does not con- 
form to the foregoing requirements in respect to its truth, 
sufficiently in detail, or otherwise, to file a sufficient state- 
ment, upon the application of the attorney-general or district 
attorney or petition of any candidate voted for, or of any 
five persons qualified to vote at the election on account of 
which the expenditures, or any part thereof, were made or are 
alleged to have been made. Such petition shall be filed within 
sixty days after such election, if the statement was filed 
within the thirty days required, but a petition may be filed 
78 



CORRUPT PRACTICES. 

within thirty days of any payment not included in the state- 
ment so filed. Proceedings under this section shall be advanced 
upon the request of either party for speedy trial. No petition 
brought under this act shall be discontinued without the con- 
sent of the attorney-general. 

Section 367. No person who is called to testify in any 
proceedings under the preceding section shall be liable to 
criminal prosecution under this act or otherwise for any 
matters or causes in respect of which he shall be examined 
or to which his testimony shall relate, except to prosecution 
for perjury committed in such testimony. 

Section 368. All statements shall be preserved for fifteen 
months after the election to which they relate, and shall, under 
reasonable regulations, be open to public inspection. 

Section 369. Every payment required to be accounted for 
shall, unless the total expense payable to any one person is 
less than five dollars, be vouched for by a receipted bill stating 
the particulars of expense, and every voucher, receipt or ac- 
count hereby required shall be preserved for six months after 
the election to which it relates. 

Section 370. The secretary of the commonwealth shall at 
the expense of the commonwealth furnish to the city and 
town clerks, and in Boston to the election commissioners, 
blanks in form approved by the secretary and by the attorney- 
general, suitable for the statements required by law. Or the 
receipt of a list of candidates for public office before a caucus 
or primary, or upon the filing of a nomination before a munici- 
pal election, the election commissioners in Boston, and the 
clerk of any other city or the town clerk shall transmit to the 
candidate or candidates put in nomination, and to the treas- 
urers of political committees, the blanks above described. 
Upon the filing of a nomination before a state or national 
election the secretary of the commonwealth shall transmit to 
the candidate or candidates put in nomination, and to the 
treasurers of the political committees, the blanks above 
described. To any person required to file a statement such 
79 



INQUESTS— PENALTIES UPON OFFICERS. 

blanks shall bo furnished upon application therefor. 
Section 371. The provisions of this act relative to corrupt 
practices shall apply to all public elections, except of town 
officers, and to elections by the general court and by city 
councils, and by either branch thereof, to the nomination by 
primaries, caucuses and conventions and nomination papers of 
candidates to be voted for at such elections. The term 
"political committee" as defined in section one and sections 
three hundred and forty-eight and three hundred and fifty 
shall not apply to the proprietors and publishers of publica- 
tions issued at regular intervals, in respect to the ordinary 
conduct of their business. 

Inquests on Election Cases. 
Section 372. Upon a complaint subscribed and sworn to by 
any person before a police, district or municipal court or a 
trial justice, alleging that reasonable grounds exist for believ- 
ing that any law relating to the assessment, qualification or 
registration of voters, or to voting lists or ballots, or to pri- 
maries, caucuses, conventions and elections, or to any matters 
pertaining thereto, has been violated, such court or justice may 
at once hold an inquest to inquire into such alleged violation 
of the law. 

Sections 373-378. Relate to mode of procedure in inquests 
in election cases. 

Sections 379-392. Relate to officers to be elected at state 
elections. 

Sections 393-399. Provisions applying to town meetings. 

Sections 400-422. Relate to election of town officers. 

Sections 423-431. Relate to proceedings in cases of failure 
to elect, and vacancies in town offices. 

Sections 432-433. Relate to town elections at which official 
ballots are used. 

80 



PENALTIES UPON OFFICERS. 

Penalties Upon Officers. 

Section 434. An assessor or assistant assessor who know- 
ingly enters on any list of assessed polls, or causes or allows to 
be entered thereon, the name of any person as a resident of a 
building, who is not a resident thereof, shall for each offense 
be punished by imprisonment for not more than six months. 

Section 435. A registrar or assistant registrar who refuses 
or wilfully neglects to require, under section forty-seven, an 
applicant for registration to read the five lines from the con- 
stitution of the commonwealth in such manner as to show 
that he is neither prompted nor reciting from memory, or to 
write his name in the register, unless he is prevented by physi- 
cal disability from so doing, or unless he had the right to vote 
on the first day of May in the year eighteen hundred and 
fifty-seven, or distinctly to announce the name of an applicant 
for registration before entering his name upon the register, 
or who knowingly prevents or seeks to prevent the registration 
of any legal voter, or who knowingly registers the name of any 
person not qualified to vote, or who is guilty of any fraud or 
corrupt conduct in the execution of the duties of his office, 
shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than six 
months. 

Section 436. A member of the listing board or a police 
officer in Boston who knowingly enters on any list of male 
persons or woman voters, or causes, or allows to be entered 
thereon, the name of any person as a resident of a building, 
who is not a resident thereof, shall for each offense be 
punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 437. A member of the listing board or a police 
officer in Boston upon whom a duty is imposed by this act, 
who refuses or wilfully neglects or wilfully fails to perform 
such duty, or who wilfully performs it contrary to law, shall 
for each offense, if no other penalty is specifically imposed 
therefor, be punished by imprisonment for not more than one 
year. 

Section 438. An officer of a primary, caucus or convention 
81 



PENALTIES UPON OFFICERS. 

who knowingly makes any false count of ballots or votes, or 
makes any false statement or declaration of the result of a 
ballot or vote, or knowingly refuses to receive any ballot 
offered by a person qualified to vote at such primary, caucus 
or convention, or wilfully alters, defaces or destroys any 
ballots cast, or voting lists used thereat, before the require- 
ments of this act have been complied with, or declines or 
wilfully fails to receive any written request made as therein 
required, or declines or wilfully fails to perform any duty or 
obligation imposed thereby shall be punished by imprisonment 
for not more than three months. 

Any such presiding officer, secretary or clerk of a caucus 
who wilfully neglects or refuses to comply with the require- 
ments of section one hundred and fifty-five shall be punished 
by a fine of not more than fifty dollars for each offense. 

Section 439. A caucus officer who violates any of the pro- 
visions of section one hundred and forty-six shall be punished 
by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 440. A supervisor appointed under section two 
hundred and forty, violating any provision thereof, shall be 
punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 441. An election officer who. before the public 
declaration of the vote at an election, makes any statement 
of the number of ballots cast, of the number of votes given 
for any person, of the name of any person who has voted, of 
the name of any person which has not been voted on, or of 
any other fact tending to show the state of the polls, shall be 
punished by imprisonment for not more than thirty days. 

Section 442. A presiding officer at a caucus, primary or 
state or city election, or at an election in a town at which 
official ballots are used, who, when the right of a person offer- 
ing to vote is challenged for any legal cause, wilfully or negli- 
gently fails to require the name and residence of such person 
to be written upon the ballot offered by him. and to add there- 
to the name of the person challenging and the assigned cause, 
82 



PENALTIES UPON OFFICERS. 

before such ballot is received, shall be punished by imprison- 
ment for not more than one year. 

Section 443. A primary, election or other officer whose duty 
it is to recount the ballots cast at a primary or election, who 
makes any statement or gives any information in regard to a 
ballot cast by a voter challenged at such primary or election, 
except as required by law, shall be punished by imprisonment 
for not more than one year. 

Section 444. A presiding officer who, at a town election at 
which official ballots are not used, before the polls are closed 
and without the consent of a voter, reads or examines or per- 
mits to be read or examined, the names written or printed on 
the ballot of such voter, in order to ascertain the persons 
voted for by him, shall be punished by imprisonment for not 
more than thirty days. 

Section 445. A primary or election officer who wilfully or 
negligently violates any provision relating to the enclosing in 
envelopes, sealing, indorsing and delivering or transmitting 
of ballots and voting lists, after the votes have been counted 
and recorded, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more 
than one year. 

Section 446. A city or town clerk or an election commis- 
sioner who examines or permits to be examined, except as re- 
quired by law, ballots cast at an election which are received 
and retained by him under section three hundred and six, 
shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred 
dollars. 

Section 447.- A city or town clerk or an election commis- 
sioner who fails to make a record of votes cast at an election 
and to make and transmit copies of any such record, as re- 
quired by this act, shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than two hundred dollars; but if a copy of the records is 
deposited in the post office within the time fixed for trans- 
mission or delivery, postpaid and properly addressed, it shall 
be a bar to any complaint for delinquency. 

Section 448. A city or town clerk, precinct clerk or election 
83 



PENALTIES UPON VOTEKS. 
commissioner who wilfully signs a certificate not in accord- 
ance with the result of an election as appearing by the records 
and copies of records of votes cast, or by a recount of votes, . 1 
shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 
Section 449. A selectman who wilfully gives a certificate 
of election to a person voted for as representative in the 
general court, which is not in accordance with the declaration 
of the vote in open town meeting at the time of the election, 
or not in accordance with a recount of votes, shall be punished 
by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 450. A public officer, primary, caucus or election 
officer, or officer or member of a political committee or con- I 
vention upon whom a duty is imposed by law, who refuses 
or wilfully neglects or wilfully fails to perform such duty, or 
who wilfully performs it contrary to law, shall for each 
offense, if no other penalty is herein specifically imposed 
therefor, be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more 
than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more 
than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. A pri- 
mary or election officer in the city of Boston who knowingly 
permits or aids in the violation of any provisions of law relat- 
ing to registration, primaries or elections, shall be punished by 
imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years 
or in the house of correction for not less than six months. 
Penalties Upon Voters. 
Section 451. Whoever at a primary or caucus votes or at- 
tempts to vote, knowing that he is not entitled so to do, or 
votes or attempts to vote upon any name other than his own, 
or more than once on his own name, or casts or attempts to 
cast more than one ballot, or places any distinguishing mark 
upon a ballot, or makes a false statement as to his ability to 
mark his ballot, or unlawfully allows the marking of his bal- 
lot to be seen by any person, or gives a false answer to, or 
makes a false oath before, a presiding officer, shall be punished 
by imprisonment for not more than six months. 

Section 452. A voter who violates any of the provisions of 
84 



GENEKAL PENALTIES. 

section one hundred and forty-six shall be punished by im- 
prisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 453. A voter who, at a primary or election, places 
any distinguishing mark upon his ballot shall be punished by 
imprisonment for not more than six months. 

Section 454. A voter who makes a false statement as to 
his inability to mark a billot, or who except for the purpose 
of obtaining assistance under section two hundred and ninety- 
four, allows his ballot to be seen by any person with an inten- 
tion of indicating how he is about to vote shall be punished 
by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. 

Section 455. Whoever at a primary or election, knowing 
that he is not a qualified voter in the place where he votes or 
attempts to vote, wilfully votes or attempts to vote thereat; 
whoever at a primary or election votes or attempts to vote 
more than once on his own name, his name having been regis- 
tered more than once; whoever at a primary or election votes 
or attempts to vote in more than one voting precinct or town, 
his name having been registered in more than one voting pre- 
cinct or town; whoever at a primary or election votes or 
attempts to vote on any other name than his own, or know- 
ingly casts or attempts to cast more than one ballot at one 
time of balloting; whoever at a primary or election votes or 
attempts to vote otherwise illegally; or whoever aids or abets 
any other person in doing any of the acts above mentioned, 
shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 456. Whoever at a primary or election wilfully 
gives a false answer to a presiding officer shall be punished by 
a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. 
General Penalties. 

Section 457. Whoever, being an inmate of a building and 
liable to be assessed for a poll tax, refuses or neglects to give 
his true name when asked by an assessor or assistant assessor, 
or whoever, being an owner or occupant of a building, refuses 
or neglects to give the full and true information within his 
knowledge relating to all persons residing in such building, 
85 



GENERAL PENALTIES. 

when asked by an assessor or assistant assessor, shall be 
punished by imprisonment for not more than three months. 

Section 458. Whoever in Boston, being an inmate of a 
building and a male resident twenty years of age or upward, 
refuses or neglects to give his true name, when asked by a 
member of the listing board or a police officer acting under 
this act, or whoever, being an owner or occupant of a building, 
or a clerk, superintendent, manager or other person having in 
charge the affairs of a hotel or lodging house, refuses or neg- 
lects to give the full and true information within his knowl- 
edge relating to all persons residing in such building, when 
asked by a member of the listing board or a police officer 
acting under this act, shall be punished by imprisonment for 
not more than three months. 

Section 459. Whoever, knowingly gives to an assessor or 
assistant assessor, for the purpose of the assessment of a poll 
tax, or in Boston to a member of the listing board or a police 
officer, for the purpose of making a list of male residents 
twenty years of age or upwards or women voters, the name 
of any person as a resident of a building, who is not a resident 
therein, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 
one year. 

Section 460. Whoever knowingly or wilfully makes a false 
affidavit, takes a false oath or signs a false certificate relative 
to the qualifications of any person for assessment or registra- 
tion, or in Boston for being listed or given a certificate by the 
listing board, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more 
than one year. 

Section 461. Whoever in Boston aids or abets a person in 
knowingly or wilfully making a false affidavit, taking a false 
oath or signing a false certificate, relative to the qualifications 
of any person for being listed as a resident thereof or given a 
certificate of such residence by the listing board, shall be 
punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 462. Whoever causes or attempts to cause his name 
to be registered, knowing that he is not a qualified voter in the 



GENERAL PENALTIES. 

place of such registration or attempted registration; whoever 
registers or attempts to register under a name other than his 
own; whoever represents or attempts to represent himself as 
some other person to any election commissioner, registrar or 
assistant registrar respecting any matter relating to his regis- 
tration or his right to vote; whoever otherwise illegally regis- 
ters or attempts to register; or whoever aids or abets any 
other person in doing any of the acts above mentioned, shall 
be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 463. Whoever refuses to obey the lawful orders or 
directions of an election commissioner, a registrar or assistant 
registrar, or interrupts or disturbs the proceedings at any 
registration shall be punished by a fine of not more than one 
hundred dollars. 

Section 464. Whoever interferes with, or aids or abets any 
person in interfering with, any supervisor of registration in 
the performance of his duty, shall be punished by imprison- 
ment for not more than one year. 

Section 465. Whoever wilfully defaces or removes a notice 
relating to the registration of voters, or a voting list or notice 
or warrant for a primary or election posted in a city or town 
shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 466. Whoever aids or abets a person, who is not 
entitled to vote, in voting or attempting to vote at a primary 
or caucus, or in voting or attempting to vote under a name 
other than his own, or in casting or attempting to cast more 
than one ballot, or wilfully and without lawful authority 
hinders, delays or interferes with, or aids in hindering, delay- 
ing or interfering with a voter while on his way to a primary 
or caucus, while marking his ballot or while voting or attempt- 
ing to vote, or endeavors to induce a voter to show his ballot, 
shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one 
year. 

Section 467. Whoever alters a ballot cast at a primary or 
caucus or, not being authorized thereto, deposits in a ballot 
box or envelope used at a primary or caucus, or removes a 
S7 



GENERAL PENALTIES. 

ballot from such ballot box or envelope, shall be punished by 
imprisonment for not more than three years. 

Section 468. Whoever falsely makes or wilfully alters, de- 
faces, mutilates, destroys or suppresses a certificate of nom- 
ination or nomination paper, or letter of withdrawal of a name 
from such paper, or unlawfully signs any such certificate, 
paper or letter, or files any such certificate, paper or letter, 
knowing the same to be falsely made or altered, shall be 
punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 469. Whoever as a notary public, justice of the 
peace or other magistrate takes the oath of a signer to a 
nomination paper without satisfying himself that the person 
to whom the oath is admistered is the signer of such nomina- 
tion paper, or who shall fail to state in his attestation of such 
oath that he is so satisfied, shall be punished by a fine of not 
less than ten or more than fifty dollars. 

Section 470. Whoever intentionally writes, prints, posts or 
distributes, or causes to be written, printed, posted or dis- 
tributed, a circular or poster which is designed or tends to 
injure or defeat any candidate for nomination or election to 
any public office, by criticising his personal character or politi- 
cal action, or which is designed or tends to aid, injure, or 
defeat a constitutional amendment or any other question sub- 
mitted to the voters, unless there appears upon such circular 
or poster in a conspicuous place either the names of the chair- 
man and secretary, or of two officers of the political or other 
organization issuing the same, or of some voter who is respon- 
sible therefor, with his name and residence, and the street and 
number thereof if any, shall be punished by imprisonment for 
not more than six months. 

Section 471. Whoever wilfully obstructs or interferes with 
the transmission of ballots or returns to or from a polling 
place shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 
one year. 

Section 472. Whoever posts, exhibits, circulates or dis- 
tributes any poster, card, handbill, placard, picture or circular, 
88 



GENERAL PENALTIES. 

except a paster to be placed upon the official ballot, intended 
to influence the action of a voter, in the polling place, in the 
building in which the polling place is located or on the walls 
thereof, on the premises on which the building stands, or on 
the sidewalk adjoining said premises, or within one hundred 
and fifty feet of the entrance to such polling place, shall be 
punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars. 

Section 473. Whoever wilfully or maliciously injures or 
destroys a ballot box or any of the blank forms or apparatus 
furnished to a city or town under sections two hundred and 
forty-three and two hundred and forty-four, shall be punished 
by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 474. Any person who shall tamper with or injure 
or attempt to injure any voting machine or ballot box to be 
used or being used in an election, or who shall prevent or 
attempt to prevent the correct operation of such machine or 
box, or any unauthorized person who shall make or have in 
his possession a key to a voting machine or ballot box to be 
used or being used in an election, shall be guilty of a felony 
and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred 
dollars or more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment 
m the state prison for not less than one year or more than 
five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 

Section 475. Whoever refuses or wilfully neglects to comply 
with any regulation made by the election commissioners, alder- 
men or selectmen relative to the manner of receiving, counting 
and returning votes cast at a primary or election, or relative 
to the use of seals and ballot boxes, shall be punished by 
imprisonment for not more than six months. 

Section 476. Whoever interferes, or aids or abets any per- 
son in interfering with an election commissioner, city or town 
clerk, or election officer, in the performance of his duties shall 
be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 477. Whoever prevents a supervisor of elections 
from doing any of the acts authorized by section two hundred 
and forty of this act; or hinders or molests him in doing any 
S9 



GENERAL PENALTIES. 

such acts, or aids or abets in preventing, hindering or molest- 
ing him in doing any of such acts, shall be punished by im- 
prisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 478. Whoever prints or distributes a ballot for use 
in the election of moderator at a town meeting in violation of 
section four hundred and ten, shall be punished by imprison- 
ment for not more than sixty days. 

Section 479. Whoever, before a primary or election, wil- 
fully defaces or destroys any list of candidates posted under 
the provisions of this act, or, during a primary, caucus or 
election, wilfully defaces, tears down, removes or destroys any 
card of instruction or specimen ballot posted for the instruc- 
tion of voters, or during a primary, caucus or election, wilfully 
removes or destroys any of the supplies or conveniences furn- 
ished to enable a voter to prepare his ballot, shall be punished 
by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. 

Section 480. Whoever forges or falsely makes the official 
indorsement on any ballot, or wilfully destroys or defaces a 
ballot, or wilfully delays the delivery of any ballots, shall be 
punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 481. Whoever wilfully and without lawful author- 
ity obstructs or delays a voter while on his way to the polling 
place where he is entitled to vote or while he is voting or 
attempting to vote, or aids or assists in any such obstruction 
or delay, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 
one year. 

Section 482. Whoever interferes or attempts to interfere 
with a voter while he is marking his ballot or is within the 
space enclosed by the guard rail, or endeavors to induce a 
voter, before he has voted, to show how he marks or has 
marked his ballot, shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than one hundred dollars. 

Section 483. Whoever wilfully obstructs the voting at a 
primary or election shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than one hundred dollars. 

Section 484. Whoever aids or abets a person who is not 

yo 



GENERAL PENALTIES. 

qualified to vote at a primary or election in voting or attempt- 
ing to vote, or aids or abets a person in voting or attempting 
to vote under a name other than his own, or in casting or 
attempting to cast more than one ballot at one time of ballot- 
ing, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one 
year. 

Section 485. Whoever places a mark against a name on a 
ballot not cast by himself, or places a distinguishing mark 
on a ballot not cast by himself, except as authorized by law, 
shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than 
three years. 

Section 486. Whoever, with intent to defraud, alters a bal- 
lot cast at a primary or election ; or, with such intent, deposits 
a ballot in the ballot box used at a primary or election, or in 
an envelope provided by law for the preservation of ballots 
cast at a primary or election; or, with such intent, removes a 
ballot from any such ballot box or envelope, shall be punished 
by imprisonment in jail for not more than three years. 

Section 487. Whoever removes a ballot from the space 
enclosed by the guard rail before the close of the polls shall be 
punished by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 488. An owner, superintendent or overseer in any 
manufacturing, mechnical or mercantile establishment, who 
employs or permits to be employed therein any person entitled 
to vote at a state election, during the period of two hours 
after the opening of the polls in the voting precinct or town 
in which such person is entitled to vote, if he shall make 
application for leave of absence during such period, shall be 
punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. 

Section 489. Whoever, by threatening to discharge a person 
from his employment or to reduce his wages, or "by promising 
to give him employment at higher wages attempts to influence 
a voter to give or to withhold his vote at an election, or who- 
ever, because of th-e giving or withholding of a vote at an elec- 
tion, discharges a person from his employment or reduces his 
91 



GENERAL PENALTIES. 

wages, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 
one year. 

Section 490. Whoever pays or gives, or directly or indirect- 
ly promises to a voter any gift or reward to influence his vote 
or to induce him to withhold his vote, shall be punished by 
imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 491. Whoever, at a primary, caucus or election, 
behaves in a disorderly manner, and, after notice from the 
presiding officer, persists in such behavior and refuses to with- 
draw from the polling place, shall be punished by imprison- 
ment for not more than thirty days. 

Section 492. Whoever wilfully disobeys any lawful com- 
mand of an election, caucus or primary officer shall be punished 
by imprisonment for not more than thirty days. 

Section 493. Whoever, when so ordered by the presiding 
officer of an election, caucus, primary or meeting, refuses or 
fails to remove any pipe, cigar, cigarette or liquor, or to with- 
draw from the polling place, as provided in section* two hun- 
dred and eighty-eight, shall be punished by a fine of not more 
than twenty dollars. 

Section 494. Whoever gives any information derived from 
a recount of votes, relative to a ballot cast by a challenged 
voter at an election, caucus or primary, shall be punished by 
imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 495. Whoever violates the provisions of section 
three hundred and fifty-two relative to obtaining nomination 
papers shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hun- 
dred dollars. 



♦Section 2S8. Any person who, during an election or town 
meeting, shall, in a polling place or place of such meeting, 
smoke or have in his possession a lighted pipe, cigar or cigar- 
ette, or carry into any such place or keep therein any intoxicat- 
ing liquor, shall be deemed guilty of disorderly conduct; and 
the presiding officer shall order him to remove such pipe, cigar, 
cigarette or liquor, or to withdraw from such place, and for 
disobedience of such order shall cause him to be removed from 
such polling place or meeting. 

93 



GENERAL PENALTIES. 

Section 496. Any corporation violating the provisions of 
section three hundred and fifty-three shall be punished by a 
fine of not more than ten thousand dollars, and any officer, 
director or agent of a corporation violating any provision of 
said section or authorizing such violation, or any person who 
violates or in any way knowingly aids or abets the violation of 
any provisions of said section shall be punished by a fine of 
not more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for 
not more than six months. 

Section 497. Whoever is convicted of wilfully violating any 
provision of law relating to corrupt practices in elections shall 
be deemed ineligible to hold public office for three years fol- 
lowing the date of his conviction. 

Section 498. If a person elected to public office is convicted 
of any wilful violation of the law relating to corrupt practices 
in connection with the primary election at which he was 
nominated or elected, his office shall thereby be vacated, and a 
new election shall be held for the purpose of filling the same. 

Section 499. Any corporation which violates any provision 
of sections three hundred and fifty-four to three hundred and 
fifty-six inclusive shall be punished by a fine of not more than 
ten thousand dollars, and any officer, director or agent of a 
corporation violating any such provision, who authorized such 
violation, or any person who violates, or in any way know- 
ingly aids or abets the violation of, any such provision, shall 
be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, 
or by imprisonment for not more than one year. 

Section 500. Whoever violates any provision of section 
three hundred and fifty-eight shall be punished by a fine not 
exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not 
exceeding three months, or by both such fine and imprison- 
ment. 

Section 501. Whoever violates any provisions of law relat- 
ing to corrupt practices in elections the punishment for which 
is not specially determined by law, shall be punished by 
93 



ENFORCEMENT AND EXPLANATION OF THIS ACT. 

imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine of not 
more than one thousand dollars. 

Section 502. The supreme judicial court and the superior 
court shall have jurisdiction at law or in equity or by manda- 
mus to enforce the provisions of this act. Police officers and 
constables shall arrest without a warrant any person detected 
in the act of violating the caucus, primary or election laws. 
A prosecution for the violation of any provision of this act 
shall not, unless the purpose of justice require such dispo- 
sition, be placed on file or disposed of except by trial and 
judgment according to the regular course of criminal pro- 
ceedings. It shall be disposed of otherwise only upon motion 
in writing stating specifically the reasons therefor and verified 
by affidavit if facts are relied on. If the court of magistrate 
certifies in writing that he is satisfied that the cause relied on 
exists and that the interests of public justice require the allow- 
ance of the motion the motion shall be allowed and the certifi- 
cate of the court or magistrate shall be filed in the case. 

Section 503. Repeals former statutes. 

Provisions of This Act Explained. 
Section 504. The provisions of this act, so far as they are 
the same as those of existing statutes, shall be construed as 
continuations thereof and not as new enactments, and a refer- 
ence in a statute which has not been repealed to provisions 
of law which have been revised and re-enacted herein shall be 
construed as applying to such provisions as so incorporated in 
this act; they shall not affect any act done, liability incurred, 
or any right accrued and established or any suit or prosecu- 
tion, civil or criminal, pending or to be instituted, to enforce 
any right or penalty or to punish any offense under the 
authority of existing laws, but the proceedings in such cases 
shall conform to the provisions of this act. 



APPENDIX. 



CONTENTS. 

Election Districts of Massachusetts 96 

Congressional 96 

Councillor 99 

Senatorial 102 

Qualifications of Voters (Condensed Statement) 

105 

Naturalization (A Digest of the Present Law) 

106 

Political Calendar, State Election no 

Political Calendar, City Election in 

Index 112 

Addenda 116 



CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. 

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS 



As Established by Chapter 674, Acts of 1912. 

DISTRICT NUMBER ONE. 

The cities of North Adams and Pittsfleld, and the several 
towns in the county of Berkshire; the towns of Ashfleld, Buck,- 
land, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, 
Leyden, Monroe, Rome and Shelburne in the county of Frank- 
lin- the towns of Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Huntington, 
Middlefield, Plainfield, Southampton, Westhampton and Worth- 
ington in the county of Hampshire; and the city of Holyoko, 
and the towns of Blandford, Chester, Granville, Montgomery, 
Russell, Southwick, Tolland and West field in the county of 
Hampden. 



DISTRICT NUMBER TWO. 

The towns of Bernardston, Deerfield, Erving, Gill, Leverett, 
Montague, Northfield, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wen- 
dell and Whately in the county of Franklin; the city of North- 
ampton, and the towns of Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, 
Enfield, Granby, Hadley, Hatfield, Pelham, South Ha. Hey, Ware 
and Williamsburg in the county of Hampshire; and the cities 
of Chicopee and Springfield, and the towns of Agawani. Fast 
Longmeadow, Hampden, Longmeadow, Ludlow, West Springfield 
and Wilbraham in the county of Hampden. 



DISTRICT NUMBER THREE. 

The towns of New Salem and Orange in the county of 
Franklin; the towns of Brimfield, Holland, Monson, Palmer 
and Wales in the county of Hampden; the towns of Greenwich 
and Prescott in the county of Hampshire: the towns of Ashby 
and Townsend in the county of Middlesex; and the city of 
Fitchburg, and the towns of Ashburnham, Athol, Barre, Boylfl- 
ton, Brookfield, Charlton, Clinton, Dana, Dudley, Gardner, 
Hardwick, Holden, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Leicester, Leom- 
inster, Lunenburg, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Oakham, 
Oxford, Paxton, Petersham, Phillipston. Princeton, Royalston, 
Rutland, Southbridge, Spencer, Sterling. Sturbridge, Temple- 
ton, Warren, Webster, West Boylston, West Brookfield, West- 
minster and Winchendon, in the county of Worcester. 



DISTRICT NUMBER FOUR. 

The city of Worcester, and the towns of Auburn, Black- 
stone, Douglas, Grafton, Hopedale, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, 
Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Sutton, Upton, [Jxbridge and West- 
borough in the county of Worcester; and the (own of Hopkin- 
ton in the county of Middlesex. 

or, 



CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. 

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS 



DISTRICT NUMBER FIVE. 

The towns of Andover and Methuen in the county of Essex ;. 
the cities of Lowell and Woburn, and the towns of Acton, Ayer, 
Bedford. Billerica, Boxborongh, Burlington, Carlisle, Chelmsford, 
Concord, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Hudson, Lincoln, Littleton, 
Maynard, Pepperell, Reading. Shirley, Stow, Tewksbury, Tyngs- 
borough, "Westford and Wilmington in the county of Middlesex; 
and the towns of Berlin, Bolton, Harvard and Northborough. 



DISTRICT NUMBER SIX. 

The cities of Beverly, Gloucester, Haverhill, Newbnryport 
and Salem, and the towns of Amesbury, Danvers, Essex, George- 
town, Groveland. Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester, Marblehead, 
Merrimac, Newbury, Rockport, Rowley, Salisbury, Swampscott, 
Topsfield, Wenhain and West Newbury in the county of Es- 
sex. 



DISTRICT NU3IBER SEVEN. 

The cities of Lawrence and Lynn, and the towns of Box- 
ford, Lynnfield, Middleton, Nahant, North Andover. Peabody and 
Saugus in the county of Essex; and the town of North Read- 
ing in the county of Middlesex. 



DISTRICT NUMBER EIGHT. 

The cities of Cambridge, Medford and Melrose, and the 
towns of Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, Stoneham, Wakefield, 
Watertown and Winchester in the county of Middlesex. 

DISTRICT NUMBER NINE. 

The cities of Everett. Maiden and Somerville in the county of 
Middlesex; and the city of Chelsea, and the towns of Revere 
and Winthrop in the county of Suffolk. 



DISTRICT NUMBER TEN. 

The wards numbered one. two, three, four, five, six, seven 
eight, nine, and precincts one and two of the ward numbered 
eleven in the city of Boston in the county of Suffolk. 



DISTRICT NUMBER ELEVEN. 

The ward numbered ten, precincts three, four, five, six 
seven, eight, and nine of the ward numbered eleven, and the 
wards numbered twelve, eighteen, nineteen, twentv-one, twenty- 
two and twenty-tbree in the city of Boston in the county of 

97 



CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. 

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS 



DISTRICT NUMBER TWELVE. 

The wards numbered thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, 
seventeen, twenty and twenty-four in the city of Boston in the 
county of Suffolk. 

DISTRICT NUMBER THIRTEEN. 

The ward numbered twenty-five in the city of Boston in the 
county of Suffolk ; the towns of Bellingham, Brookline, Dover, 
Franklin, Medfield. Medway. Millis. Needham. Norfolk, Plain- 
ville, Walpole, Wellesley and Wrentham in the county of Nor- 
folk; the cities of Marlborough, Newton and Waltham, and the 
towns of Ashland, Framingham, Holliston. Natick. Sherborn. 
Sudbury, Wayland and Weston in the county of Middlesex; and 
the town of Southborough in the county of Worcester. 



DISTRICT NUMBER FOURTEEN. 

The town of Easton in the county of Bristol; the city of 
Quincy, and tbe towns of Avon. Braintree, Canton, Dedham, 
Foxborough, Holbrook, Milton. Norwood, Randolph, Sharon, 
Stoughton. Westwood and Weymouth in the county of Norfolk: 
the city of Brockton and the towns of Abington, Rockland, 
East Bridgewater, West Bridgewater and Whitman, in the 
county of Plymouth: and the ward numbered twenty-six in 
the city of Boston in the county of Suffolk. 



DISTRICT NUMBER FIFTEEN. 

The cities of Fall River and Taunton and the towns of At- 
tleborough, Berkley. Dighton. Freetown. Mansfield. North Attle- 
borough, Norton, Raynham, Rehoboth. Seekonk, Somerset. Swan- 
sea and Westport in the county of Bristol; and the town of 
Lakeville in the county of Plymouth. 



DISTRICT NUMBER SIXTEEN. 

The towns of Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Den- 
nis. East ham, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee. Orleans. Province- 
town, Sandwich, Truro, Wellfleet and Yarmouth in the county 
of Barnstable; the city of New Bedford, and the towns of 
Acushnet, Dartmouth, and Fairhavpu in the county of Bristol; 
the towns of Bridgewater. Carver, Duxbury, Halifax. Hanover, 
Hanson. Hingham, Hull. Kingston. Marion. Marshtield. Matta- 
poisett, Middleborough. Norwell, Pembroke. Plymouth, Plymp- 
ton. Rochester. Scituate and Wareham in the county of 'Ply- 
mouth; town of Cohasset in the county of Norfolk: the several 
towns in the county of Dukes; and the county of Nantucket. 

98 



COUNCILLOR DISTRICTS. 

COUNCILLOR DISTRICTS 



As Established by Chapter 497 of the Acts of 1906. 
DISTRICT NUMBER ONE. 

The Cape. First and Second Plymouth, and the Second and 
Third Bristol Senatorial Districts. 

CAPE DISTRICT.— Barnstable.. Bourne. Brewster, Chatham, 
Dennis, Eastham. Falmouth, Harwich. Maskpee, Orleans. Prov- 
incetown, Sandwich. Truro, Wellfleet and Yarmouth, in the 
County of Barnstable : and Chilrnark, Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, 
Gay Head, Gosnold, Tisbury, and West Tisbury, in the County 
of Dukes and County of Nantucket. 

PLYMOUTH DISTRICTS.— Abington, Bridgewater. Brock- 
ton, Carver, Cohasset (Norfolk County), Duxbury. East Bridge- 
water. Halifax. Hanover. Hanson. Hingham. Hull. Kingston, 
Lakeville, Marion, Marshfield. Mattapoisett, Middleborough, 
Norwell, Pembroke. Plymouth. Plympton, Rochester. Rockland, 
Scituate, Wareham. West Bridgewater and Whitman. 

BRISTOL DISTRICTS.— Acushnet. Dartmouth, Fairbaven, 
Fall River, Freetown. New Bedford. Somerset, Swansea and 
Westport. 



DISTRICT NUMBER TWO. 

The First Bristol. First and Second Norfolk, and Eighth and 
Ninth Suffolk Senatorial Districts. 

BRISTOL DISTRICT.— Attleborough. Berkley, Dighton, 
Easton, Mansfield, North Attleborough, Norton. Raynham. Re- 
hoboth, Seekonk, and Taunton. 

NORFOLK DISTRICTS.— Avon. Bellingham. Braintree. 
Brookline. Canton. Dedham. Dover, Foxborough. Franklin, Hol- 
brook. *Hyde Park, Medfield. Medway, Millis. Milton, Needham, 
Norfolk. Norwood. Plainville. Quincy, Randolph, Sharon, 
Sroughton, Walpole, Wellesley. Westwood, Weymouth, and 
Wrentham. 

SUFFOLK DISTRICTS.— Wards Nos. 20, 21. 23 and 24. Boston. 



*Hyde Park annexed to Boston (Ward 26) in 1911. 
99 



COUNCILLOR DISTRICTS. 

COUNCILLOR DISTRICTS 



DISTRICT NUMBER THREE. 

The Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth and Seventh Suffolk Senatorial 
Districts. 
SUFFOLK DISTRICTS.— Wards Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 32, 1| 

14, 15. 10, 17, IS, 19 and 22, Boston, and Wards 1, 2, o and 4, 
Cambridge. 

DISTRICT NUMBER FOUR. 

The First and Fifth Suffolk and the Second, Third and Fourth 
Middlesex Senatorial Districts. 

SUFFOLK DISTRICTS.— Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop and 
Wards 1 10. 11, 25, Boston. 

MIDDLESEX DISTRICTS.-Wards 5. 6, 7 8, 9, 10, 11, Cain- 
bridge Everett, Maiden, Melrose and Somerville. 



DISTRICT NUMBER FIVE. 

The First, Second, Third. Fourth and Fifth Essex Senatorial 
Districts. 
t^sfx DISTRICTS.— Andover, Amesbury, Beverly, Boxford, 
Danverl Essex, Georgetown, Gloucester, Groveland , HaM on 
Haverhill Ipswich, Lawrence. Wards Nos. 1 2 .., 4, 5 ana T, 
Lvnn Manchester, Marblehead. Merrimac, Methuen. Midd eton, 
Nal ant Newbury, Newburyport. North Andover, Peabody, 
Rockport, Rowley, Salem. Salisbury. Swampscott, ropsfield. 
Wenham and West Newbury in the County of Essex. 



DISTRICT NUMBER SIX. 

The First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Middlesex Sena- 
torial Districts. 
MIDDLESEX DISTRICTS.— Acton. Arlington AshM. Ash- 
land Wer Bedford, Belmont, Billerica, Boxborough, Burlington, 
Carlisle." Chelmsford. Concord. Dracut, Dunstable, Framingham, 
Groton, Holliston. Hopkinton. Hudson. Lexington Lincoln, Lit- 
tleton Lowell. Ward 0, Lynn. Lynnfield, Marlborough, May- 
nard ' Medford, Natick, Newton. North Reading, Pepperell, 
Reading Sautrus. Sherborn, Shirley. Stoneham, Stow. Sudbury, 
Tewksburv. Townsend. Tyngsborough. Wakefield, Waltham, Wa- 
tertown. Wayland, Westford, Weston. Wilmington, \\ ii.,-l„.s,er 
and Woburn. 

100 



COUNCILLOR DISTRICTS. 

COUNCILLOR DISTRICTS 



DISTRICT NUMBER SEVEN. 

The First, Second, Third and Fourth AYorcester and the Worces- 
ter and Hampden Senatorial Districts. 

WORCESTER DISTRICTS.— Ashburnhain, Athol, Auburn, 
Berlin, Blackstone, Bolton, Boylston, Clinton, Douglas, Fitch- 
burg, Gardner, Grafton, Harvard, Holden, Hopedale, Lancaster, 
Leominster, Lunenburg, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Northbor- 
ough, Northbridge. Oxford, Royalston, Shrewsbury, Southbor- 
ough, Sterling, Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, Webster, Westborough, 
West Boylston, Westminster, Winchendon and Worcester. 

WORCESTER AND HAMPDEN DISTRICTS.— Barre, Brim- 
field, Brookfield, Charlton, Dana. Dudley, Hampden, Hardwick, 
Holland, Hubbardston, Leicester. Ludlow. Monson, New 
Braintree. North Brookfield, Oakham. Palmer, Paxton, Peters- 
ham, Philipston, Princeton, Rutland, Southbridge. Spencer. Stur- 
bridge, Templeton, Wales, Warren, West Brookfield and Wil- 
braham. 



DISTRICT NUMBER EIGHT. 

The Berkshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Hampden, Franklin 

and Hampshire and the First and Second Hampden 

Senatorial Districts. 

BERKSHIRE DISTRICT.— Adams. Cheshire, Clarksburg, 
Dalton, Florida, Hancock, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, New Ash- 
ford, North Adams, Peru, Pittsfield, Savoy, Williamstown, 
Windsor. 

BERKSHIRE, HAMPSHIRE and HAMPDEN DISTRICT.— 
Agawam, Alford, Becket, Blanford, Chester, Chesterfield. Cum- 
mington. Easthampton, East Longmeadow, Egremont, Goshen, 
Great Harrington, Granville, Hatfield, Huntington, Lee, Lenox, 
Longmeadow, Middlefield, Monterey, Montgomery. Mount Wash- 
ington, New Marlborough, Northampton, Otis, Plainfield, Rich- 
mond, Russell, Sandisfield, Sheffield, Southampton, Southwick, 
Stockbridge, Tolland, Tyringham, Washington, Westhampton, 
West Stockbridge, Williamsburg, and Worthington. 

FRANKLIN AND HAMPSHIRE DISTRICT.— Amherst, Ash- 
field, Belchertown. Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, 
Conway, Deerfield. Enfield, Erving, Gill, Granby. Greenfield, 
Greenwich, Hadley, Hawley, Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, 
Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Pelham, Prescott, 
Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury. South Hadley, Sunderland, Ware, 
Warwick, Wendell and Whately. 

HAMPDEN DISTRICTS.— Chicopee. Holvoke. Springfield, 
Westfield and West Springfield. 

101 



SENATORIAL DISTRICTS. 

SENATORIAL DISTRICTS 



As Established by Chapter 497 of the Aets of 1906. 

BERKSHIRE DISTRICT.— Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, 
Dalton, Florida, Hancock, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, New Ash- 
ford, North Adams, Pittsfield, Peru, Savoy, Williamstown and 
Windsor in Berkshire County. 

BERKSHIRE, HAMPSHIRE AND HAMPDEN DISTRICT.— 
Alford, Becket, Egreinont, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Mont- 
erey, Mount Washington, New Marlborough, Otis, Richmond, 
Sandisfield, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Tyringham, Washington, and 
West Stockbridge, in the County of Berkshire; Chesterfield, 
Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Hatfield, Huntington, Mid- 
dlefield, Northampton, Plainfield, Southampton, Westhampton, 
Williamsburg, and Worthington, in the County of Hampshire; 
and Agawam, Blandford, Chester, East Longmeadow. Granville, 
Longmeadow, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick and Tolland 
in Hampden County. 

FIRST BRISTOL DISTRICT.— Attleborough, Berkley, 
Dighton, Easton, Mansfield, North Attleborough, Norton. Kayn- 
ham, Rehoboth, Seekonk and Taunton. 

SECOND BRISTOL DISTRICT.— Fall River, Somerset and 
Swansea. 

THIRD BRISTOL DISTRICT.— Acushnet. Dartmouth, Fair- 
haven, Freetown, New Bedford and Westport. 

CAPE DISTRICT.— Barnstable, Bourne. Brewster, Chatham, 
Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Prov- 
incetown, Sandwich. Truro, Wellfleet and Yarmouth, in the 
County of Barnstable; Chilmark, Oak Bluffs. Edgartown, Gay 
Head, Gosnold, Tisbury and West Tisbury, in the County of 
Dukes County, and Nantucket. 

FIRST ESSEX DISTRICT.— Wards 1, 2, :j. 4. 5, 7 in Lynn, 
Nahant and Swampscott. 

SECOND ESSEX DISTRICT.— Beverly, Danvers. Marble- 
head and Salem. 

THIRD ESSEX DISTRICT.— Essex, Gloucester. Hamilton, 
Ipswich. Manchester. Xewburyport, Newbury. Rockport, Row- 
ley, Salisbury, Topsfield, Wenham and West' Newbury. 

FOURTH ESSEX DISTRICT.— Amesbury, Boxford, George- 
town, Groveland, Haverhill, Merrimac, Middleton and Peabody. 

FIFTH ESSEX DISTRICT.— Andover, Lawrence, North An- 
dover and Methnen. 

102 



SENATORIAL DISTRICTS. 

SENATORIAL DISTRICTS 



FRANKLIN AND HAMPSHIRE DISTRICT.— Ashfield, Ber- 
nardston. Bucklaud, Charleinont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, 
Erving, Gill. Greenfield. Hawley. Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Mon- 
roe, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Eowe, Shel- 
burne, Shutesbury, Sunderland. Warwick, Wendell and Whately, 
in the County of Franklin and Amherst, Belchertown, Enfield, 
Granby, Greenwich, Hadley, Pelham, Preseott, South Hadley and 
Ware, in the County Of Hampshire. 

FIRST HAMPDEN DISTRICT.— The city of Springfield. 

SECOND HAMPDEN DISTRICT.— Chicopee, Holyoke, West- 
field and West Springfield. 

FIRST MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.— Ashland, Framingham, 
Holliston, Hopkinton, Natick, Newton, Sherborn, Watertown and 
Weston. 

SECOND MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.— Wards 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 
and 11, in Cambridge. 

THIRD MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.— The city of Somerville. 

FOURTH MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.— The cities of Everett, 
Maiden and Melrose. 

FIFTH MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.— Belmont, Concord, Hud- 
son. Lexington. Lincoln, Marlborough, Maynard, Stow, Sudbury, 
Waltham and Wayland. 

SIXTH MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.— Arlington, Medford, 
Stoneham, Wakefield, Winchester and Woburn. 

SEVENTH MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.— Acton, Ayer, Bedford, 
Billerica, Boxborough, Burlington, Carlisle. Littleton, Wards 5, 
9, in Lowell, North Reading, Reading, Tewksbury, Westford and 
Winiington in Middlesex County and Ward 6 in Lynn, Lynnfield 
and Saugus in Essex County. 

EIGHTH MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.— Ashby, Chelmsford, 
Dracut, Dunstable, Groton. Pepperell. Wards 1, 2, 3. 4, 6, 7 and 
8 in Lowell, Shirley, Townsend and Tyngsborough. 

FIRST NORFOLK DISTRICT.— Braintree, Canton, Hol- 
brook, *Hyde Park, Milton, Quincy, Randolph and Weymouth. 

SECOND NORFOLK DISTRICT.— Avon, Bellingham, Brook- 
line, Dedham, Dover, Foxborough, Franklin, Medfield, Medway, 
Mi-llis, Needham, Norfolk, Norwood, Plainville, Sharon, Stoughton, 
Walpole, Wellesley, Westwood and Wrentham. 

FIRST PLYMOUTH DISTRICT.— Abington, Carver, Dux- 
bury, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Hingham, 
Hull. Kingston, Marshfield. Norwell, Pembroke, Plymouth, 
Plympton, Rockland, Scituate, Whitman and Cohasset. 
103 



SE NATO RIAL DISTRICTS. 

SENATORIAL DISTRICTS 



SECOND PLYMOUTH DISTRICT.— Brockton, Bridgewater, 
Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, Middleborough, Rochester, 

Wareham and West Bridgewater. 

FIRST SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Chelsea, Revere and Win- 
tbrop, and Ward 1. Boston. 

SECOND SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Wards 2, :;. 4 and 5, Bos- 
ton and Wards 1, 2, 3, Cambridge. 

THIRD SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Wards 6, 7. and 8, Boston, 

and Ward 4. Cambridge. 

FOURTH SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Wards 9, 12 and IT. Bos- 
ton. 

FIFTH SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Wards 10, 11. and lT». Los- 
ton. 

SIXTH SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Wards 13, 14. 15 and 10. lies- 
ton. 

SEVENTH SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Wards is. 1!' and 22, 
Boston. 

EIGHTH SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Wards JO and 21, Boston. 

" NINTH SUFFOLK DISTRICT.— Wards 23 and 24, Lost..!,. 

FIRST WORCESTER DISTRICT.— Wards 4. 5. 6. 7. 8, 9 and 
10 in Worcester. 

SECOND WORCESTER DISTRICT.— Berlin, Bolton, Boyls- 

ton. Clinton. Harvard. Holden, Lancaster. Sterling and West 
Boylston, Wards 1, 2 and 3 in Worcester. 

THIRD WORCESTER DISTRICT.— Ashburnham, Athol, 
Fitchburg, Gardner. Leominster, Lunenburg. Royalston, West- 
minster and Wincbendon. 

FOURTH WORCESTER DISTRICT.— Auburn, Blackstone, 
Douglas, Grafton. Hopedale, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, North- 
borough, Northbridge, Oxford. Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sut- 
ton, Upton, Uxbridge, Webster and Westborougb. 

WORCESTER AND HAMPDEN DISTRICT.— Barre, Brook- 
field, Charlton, Dana. Dudley. Hardwick, Hubbardston, Leices- 
ter. New Braintree. North Brookfield, Oakham, Paxton, Peters- 
bam. Phillipston, Princeton, Rutland, Sputhbridge, Spencer, 
Sturbridge, Templeton, Warren and West Brookfield in Worces- 
ter County, and Brimfield, Hampden. Holland, Ludlow. Moti- 
son, Palmer. Wales and Wilbraham in Hampden County. 



*Hyde Park annexed to Boston (Ward 26) in 1911. 
104 



QUALIFICATION OF VOTERS. 

A MAX TO VOTE AT AX EEECTIOX IX MASSACHUSETTS: 

Must be a citizen of the United States by birth or natural- 
ization. 

(Xo person can be naturalized within thirty days preceding 
a general election.) 

Must be at least twenty-one years old, although one under 
age can be registered if he will be of age at the time of the next 
election. 

Must, unless he had the right to vote in this state on May 
1, 1857, or is physically disabled from doing so, be able to write 
his name and read in English the constitution of the state. 

Must have resided in the state one year, and in the city or 
town where he votes six months next preceding such election ; 
but one who changes his residence within the state retains for 
six months the right to vote for national or state officers in the 
place from which he removes. 

Must not be under guardianship, nor a pauper, (unless an 
honorably discharged veteran soldier or sailor). 

Must have been assessed for a poll tax, or in Boston listed, 
on the preceding first of April, or, if he became a resident of 
a city or town after the first of April, must obtain a certificate 
that he has been a resident thereof for six months preceding 
t+ie election. 

(A person otherwise qualified who is not so assessed or 
listed on April 1. may be assessed or listed, or may obtain a 
certificate of six months' residence, as the case may be, by prov- 
ing his right thereto before the assessors, or in Boston before a 
member of the listing board, the superintendent, a deputy su- 
perintendent or an inspector of police not later than Septem- 
ber 1.) 

Must have his name' upon the list of registered voters. 

The payment of any poll or other tax is not a prerequisite 
for registration or voting in Massachusetts. 

A person qualified to vote in a city or town divided into 
wards or voting precincts, shall be registered and be entitled to 
vote in the ward or voting precinct in which he resided on the 
first day of April preceding the election, or, if he became an in- 
habitant of such city or town after such first day of April, in 
the ward or voting precinct in which he first became a resident. 
105 



NATURALIZATION. 

NATURALIZATION 



Naturalization papers can be taken out in the United States 
District Court (in Post Office Building, Boston), or in the Supe- 
rior Court of the county other than Suffolk in which the appli- 
cant resides. 

Aliens honorably discharged from the army, upon making 
proof of one year's residence in this country, aliens showing 
honorable discharge and five consecutive years' service in the 
United States Navy or one enlistment in the United States Ma- 
rine Corps, and the widow and minor children of an alien who 
has declared his intention to become a citizen but dies before 
he is actually naturalized, may become citizens without previous 
declaration of intention. 

An alien seaman may be admitted a citizen of the United 
States after having served on board a merchant vessel of the 
United States for three years subsequent to the date of his 
declaration of intention. He must produce his certificate of dis- 
charge and good conduct during that time. 

Alien enemies, members of the Mongolian race, e. g.. Chinese, 
Japanese and Burmese, anarchists, polygamists, and. with cer- 
tain exceptions, persons who cannot speak the English language 
and write their own names, cannot be naturalized. 

Children under 21 years of age at tlie time of the naturaliza- 
tion of their parents, if dwelling in the United States, and 
such children born outside the United States, upon beginning 
to reside permanently here, and children born after the naturali- 
zation of their parents, are deemed citizens of the United States. 

An alien woman becomes naturalized by marriage with a 
citizen or by the naturalization of her husband; and her natur- 
alization in either of these ways naturalizes her minor children 
by a former alien husband. 

For an Alien to become a Naturalized Citizen : 
First. He must make a declaration of intention before the 
clerk (or his deputy) of a court authorized to naturalize aliens, 
two years at least prior to his admission, and after he has 
reached the age of eighteen years.* Such declaration must set 
forth his name, age, occupation, personal description, place of 
birth, last foreign residence and allegiance, date of his arrival, 
name of vessel in which he came here, and his present residence. 
(One who filed his declaration of intention before the new nat- 
uralization law went into effect, September 27, ]!><>;. is no 
quired to file a new declaration). 

Second. Not less than two nor more than seven years after 
making his declaration of intention he must file in court his 
petition for naturalization. The petition must be signed by the 
applicant in his own handwriting, (unless he filed his declaration 

*Note: Aliens coming to this country under the age of 
eighteen years are no longer, under the new law, exempt from 
making this declaration of intention ; they must now take out 
both sets of papers. 

106 



NATURALIZATION. 

before the passage of the new naturalization law of 1906), and 
in it he must state his full name, residence (by street and num- 
ber, if possible), occupation, date and place of birth, place from 
which he emigrated, date and place of arrival in this country, 
name of vessel on which he arrived, time when and place and 
court where he declared his intention ; if married the name of 
his wife, country of her nativity, her present residence, and the 
name, date, birthplace and residence of each child living. 

The petition must also set forth that he is not opposed to 
organized government, etc., that he is not a polygamist by prac- 
tice or belief, that it is his intention to become a citizen of the 
United States, to reside permanently therein, and to renounce 
all other allegiance; also whether or not he can speak the Eng- 
lish language, (unless he filed his declaration before the pas- 
sage of the new naturalization law of 1906), and whether or not 
he has previously been denied admission as a citizen, and if so 
on what grounds and in what court, and that the cause has 
since been removed. 

The petition must be verified by the affidavits of at least 
two credible witnesses, citizens of the United States, stating 
that they have personally known the applicant to be a resident 
of the United States for at least five years continuously, and of 
the State in which the application is made for at least one year, 
immediately preceding the filing of the petition, and that he is of 
good moral character and in every way qualified to be admitted 
as a citizen. 

With the petition he must also file his declaration of in- 
tention, and, if he arrived in this country after June 29, 1906, 
a certificate from the Department of Commerce and Labor, stat- 
ing the date, place, and manner of his arrival here. 

Third. He must satisfy the court, by his own oath and 
the testimony (which may be by deposition as to such portion 
of the five years' residence as was outside of the State), of at 
least two witnesses,* citizens of the United States, of his five 
years' continuous residence in the United States and one year's 
residence in the State, and of his good moral character and at- 
tachment to the principles of the United States Constitution. In 
practice the court requires the applicant also to show some famil- 
iarity with the history and structure of the Government. 

Fourth. He must take oath in open court to support the 
Constitution and laws of the United Sates, and renounce all for- 
eign allegiance and all titles and orders of nobility. 

* These two witnesses must be those by whom the applicant 
proves his residence of one year or more within the State; if he 
proves his residence elsewhere in the United States for the re- 
mainder of the five years by the testimony of other witnesses, 
such other witnesses are not required to make affidavits to the 
petition. 

Such depositions may be taken at any time before the hear- 
ing on the petition on notice to the Bureau of Immigration and 
Naturalization at Washington, and to the United States Attor- 
ney for the district where the witness resides, from whom printed 
forms for depositions may be obtained on application. 
107 



NATURALIZATION. 

Petitions for naturalization may be filed at any time, but 
final action can be bad only in open court on stated days fixed 
by tbe court. Such final action can in no case be bad until at 
least ninety days bave elapsed after filing tbe petition, nor 
within thirty days preceding a general election in the State. 

If an alien so desires and tbe court approves lie may have 
bis name changed at tbe time and as a part of bis naturalization. 

Persons not citizens who owe permanent allegiance to the 
United States, and who become residents of the State, in qual- 
ifying for naturalization after two years from the dates of their 
declarations of intention may, for the purpose of satisfying the 
five years' residence clause, show their residence anywhere 
within the jurisdiction of the United States owing such perman- 
ent allegiance. % 

Fees. 

For receiving and filing a declaration of intention and 

issuing a duplicate thereof si.UO 

For making, filing and docketing the petition of an 
alien for admission as a citizen of the United States 
and for the final hearing theron $2.09* 

For entering the final order and the issuance of the cer- 
tificate of citizenship $2.00* 

If the petitioner desires to compel the attendance of any 
witnesses he must, in addition to the above fees, pay to the 
clerk of the court such sums as may be necessary to cover the 
expenses of subpoenaing them and paying their legal fees. 

Political committees and persons required to file statements 
of political expenses are prohibited in Massachusetts from pay- 
ing money to or in behalf of any person for naturalization fees 
or for services in obtaining naturalization. 

Blank forms to be filled in with the facts necessary to make 
out the declaration of intention or the petition for naturaliza- 
tion are furnished on application to tbe clerks of courts. The 
applicant for a declaration of intention having properly filled in 
such a form presents it to the clerk of the court, who draws up 
the declaration therefrom in triplicate and has the applicant sign 
and swear to it, and one copy is given to the applicant. "When 
he applies for bis final papers, he fills in a similar form, from 
which the clerk of the court prepares the petition for naturali- 
zation; on this occasion the applicant takes with him his copy 
of his declaration, and his two witnesses, who with him put 
their names upon and swear to the petition. 

*In practice both these fees are collected at the time of the 
filing of the petition. 



108 



DATES FOR NATURALIZATION. 

DATES FOR NATURALIZATION. 



Mondays are the days fixed for hearings in the United States 
Court. 

In the State courts the days fixed for hearings in the different 
counties are as follows : 

HAMPDEN.— Springfield. September. 2d Monday ; February 
and June, 3d Monday. Holyoke. usually on the days following 
the above. 

HAMPSHIRE. — Northampton. December. 3d Monday: June, 
1st Monday. Ware, usually on the days following the above. 

FRANKLIN.— Greenfield, March, 3d Monday. 

BERKSHIRE.— Pittsfield, January and July. 2d Monday. 
North Adams, usually on the days following the above. 

NORFOLK.— Dedham, September and April, 1st Tuesday af- 
ter 1st Monday in each month. 

BARNSTABLE.— Barnstable. April, 2d Monday. 

DUKES COUNTY.— Edgartown, September and April, last 
Tuesday. 

NANTUCKET.— Nantucket, July, 1st Tuesday. 

ESSEX. — Salem, January and July, 2d Monday; Lawrence, 
September, 2d Monday ; March, 1st Monday. Newburyport, April 
2d Monday. 

BRISTOL.— Taunton, February. 1st Monday. Fall River, Sep- 
tember. 3d Monday: March, 4th Monday. New Bedford, Decem- 
ber and June, 1st Monday. 

MIDDLESEX. — Lowell, September and June, 1st Monday. 

PLYMOUTH.— Plymouth, June, 1st Monday. Brockton, May, 
1st Monday. 

WORCESTER.— Worcester. April and November, 2d Monday. 
Fitchburg, June and November 1 , 3d Monday. 

The Suffolk Superior Court and the Supreme Judicial Court 
do not receive petitions for naturalization. 

In 1913. 
July 1. — Last day for filing petitions on which hearings can 
be had in the United States District Court before the general 
Stare election in November. 

Sept. 29. — Last day for hearings in the United States District 
Court before the general State election in November. 

Oct. 4. — Last day that can be fixed by any court for hearings 
before the general State election in November. 



POLITICAL CALENDAR, STATE ELECTION. 

POLITICAL CALENDAR 

Relating to the 

STATE ELECTION 
19 13 



REGISTRATION OF VOTERS. 

In Boston. Central Office, 100 Summer Street. 

Every day except Saturday, 9 A. M. to 5 P. M. Saturdays 9 
A. M. to 12 M. 

No registration Sundays or holidays. 

In Other Cities and Towns. 

"'•Registrars shall hold such sessions as the town by by-law or 
the . . . city by ordinance shall prescribe." 

"On or before the Saturday last preceding a primary.*' 

Oct. 15. — "In every city registrars shall hold a continuous ses- 
sion from 12 noon till 10 o'clock . . . when registration shall 
cease." 

Oct. 35. — in every town a like continuous session shall be 
held, 12 M. to 10 P. M. ; also "On the Saturday last but one pre- 
ceding the annual town meeting.'" 

ELECTION OFFICERS. 

Aug. 15. — Last day for appointing election officers in towns 
divided into voting precincts. 

Aug. 31. — Last day for filing nomination of election officers in 
every city. 

PRIMARIES. 

Sept, 23. — State primaries. 

STATE CONVENTION. 

Sept. 30. — Earliest day for holding the State Convention. 
Oct. 4.— Republican State Convention, Tremont Temple, 10.00 
A. M. 
Oct. 6. — Progressive State Convention. 
Oct. 7. — Latest day for holding the State Convention. 



Certificates of Nomination and Nomination Papers. 

Oct. 6. — Certificates of Nomination for offices to be filled by all 
of the voters of the Commonwealth must he filed. 

Oct. 13. — Nomination Papers for the same must be filed. 

Oct. 16. — Certificates of Nomination for all other offices to be 
filled at a State election must be filed. 

Oct. 16. — Nomination Papers for the same must be filed. 

All of these papers must be filed with the Secretary of the 
Commonwealth before 5 P. M. on the dates specified.* 



♦Objections to or withdrawals from nominations must be made 
within the seventy-two week-day hours succeeding 5 o'clock of 
the last day fixed for the filing of nomination papers for such 
offices. 

110 



POLITICAL CALENDAR. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Sept. 5. — Last clay for posting copies of the voting lists in 
every place except Boston. 

Oct. 11. — Last clay for posting copies of voting lists in Boston. 

Oct. 15.— Last day for designation of polling places in cities 
and towns divided into voting precincts. 

Oct. 14. — Last day for petitioning for appointment of super- 
visors of election. 

Oct. 21. — Last day in cities for filing complaints against incor- 
rect and illegal registration. 

Oct. 31. — Last day in towns for filing such complaints. 

Nov. 4.— STATE ELECTION. (Tuesday next after the first 
Monday in November.) 



POLITICAL CALENDAR, CITY ELECTION. 

City election in following: cities December 2. 

In Brockton, Fall River, Fitchburg, Gloucester, Haverhill, Hoi- 
yoke, Marlborough, New Bedford, Northampton, Pittsfield, 
Quincy, Springfield, Taunton, and Waltham. 

Nov. 12. — Last day before City election for registration. On 
this day Registrars must hold a continuous session from 12 M. 
to 10 P. M., when registration must cease. 

Nov. 17.— Certificates of nomination must be filed with City 
Clerk before 5 P. M.*f 

Nov. 19. — Nomination papers must be filed with the City Clerk 
before 5 P. M.f 

City election in following cities December 9. 

In Beverly, Chelsea, Chicopee, Everett, Lowell, Lawrence, Lynn, 
Maiden, Medford, Melrose, Newburyport, Newton, Salem, Somer- 
ville, Woburn and Worcester. 

Nov. 19. — Last day before City election for registration. On 
this day Registrars must hold a continuous session from 12 M. 
to 10 P. M., when registration must cease.t 

Nov. 24. — Certificate of nomination must be filed with the City 
Clerk before 5 P. M.*f 

Nov. 26. — Nomination papers must be filed with the City Clerk 
before 5 P. M. 

City election in North Adams December 16. 

City election in Boston January 13, 1914. 

City election in Cambridge March 10, 1914. 



*Objections to or withdrawals from nominations must be made 
within the forty-eight week-day hours succeeding 5 o'clock in 
the afternoon of the last day fixed for the filing of nomination 
papers for such offices. 

tExcept where city charter provides otherwise. 

§See acts 1912, ch. 107. 

Ill 



INDEX. 

Sec! ion 

Addenda Page 116 

Anonymous Circulars or Posters 

penalty for printing, distributing, etc 470 

Assessment of Poll Taxes and Lists of persons assessed . . 15 

Appendix Page 95 

Ballot 

to be taken in all primaries and caucuses 103, 154 

Ballots 

in state and presidential primaries 103 

in city and town primaries 1"). 106 

in all primaries 106-109 

in caucuses using official ballots 174. 17~>. 17'.» 

printing of 104. 10<>. b>7. 175 

counting of (see counting of votes) 112, li'.;. 159, 179 

Ballot Law Commission 

Boston — bow constituted, powers, duties, etc M 

State — appointment, powers, duties, etc. ..'.><; ; L'<>">. 211, 213 

Calendars 

for 1913-1914 Page 2 

political, for state and city elections Appendix- 
Candidates (see nomination of candidates) 

Canvass and returns of Votes, etc. 

state primaries 124, 137, 1 W 

at caucuses 150, 196 

Caucus defined 1 

Caucuses 

provisions applying to all 143-151 

provisions applying to tbose not using official bal- 
lots 152-155 

provisions applying to tbose using official ballots ..156-185 

relative to a special election 90, 141 

recounts and returns 1 50, 1 55, 179, 181 

Calling of Caucuses ..14.", 146, 149, 153, 1"». 156, 160, 162, 176, 17'.t 

Calling of Primaries '.is 

Caucus Officers 

wben elected, term of office, duties, etc. ...182, 148, 11'.'. 197 

caucuses for election of !.",<; 

nominations for 1<;4 

in case of tie vote Us 

may fill temporary vacancies., etc 18J 

in a newly incorporated city, etc 188 

penalties for violation of laws 438, 139, 142, b">0 

Certificates of Election and Nomination 

in caucuses 14!». 196, 197 

in primaries li'4. 137, 13Q 

Certificates of Nomination and Nomination Papers 

provisions relating to 201-204 

112 



INDEX. 

Section 

Challenged Voters 

may be required to take an oath, etc 146, 178 

City Committees 

how constituted and organized 89 

may make rules and regulations 92 

Convention, State 

provisions for holding 126 

Conventions 

when to be called and held 195 

national 138, 140, 141 

Corrupt Practices 347-371 

Counting: of Votes 

in primaries 98, 112, 123 

in caucuses 179 

Criminal Prosecutions for violation of caucus or election 

laws 10, 11 

Definition of terms 1 

Delegates 

to state convention 126 

to national convention 138, 140, 141 

Election Commissions in Boston 

how appointed 78 

powers and duties 8, 100, 109, 124 

constitute Boston ballot law commission 81 

designate certain officers to serve in primaries 100 

Election Districts in Massachusetts Appendix 

Enrolment 110, 111 

Explanatory Note Page 3 

Explanatory Section of Certification Act 504 

Inquests in Caucuses and Election Cases 372 

Inspectors at Primaries 100 

Listing Board, Listing and Registration of Voters in Boston 73. 77 

Municipal Party 

defined 1 

Naturalization 

digest of present law Appendix 

Nomination of Candidates 

provisions applying to 190,-210 

in all primaries 94, 95 

in state primaries 94, 95, 116. 117, 118. 119 

in presidential primaries 94, 95, 138-142 

in city and town primaries 128-137 

in all caucuses 148 

in caucuses not using official ballots 154 

in caucuses using official ballots 164 

notice of, to be sent to the candidate 124, 140 

withdrawal of name if nomiated at a primary 94 

if nominated by nomination papers in a caucus 170 

may ask for a recount 98, 150, 181 

113 



INDEX. 

Section 
Nomination Papers for use in Primaries and Caucuses 

in all primaries 93-96 

in state primaries 116-120 

in city and town primaries 131-135 

in presidential primaries 140 

in caucuses using official ballots 160, 163, 173 

objections 95, 96, 122, 17: J , 

withdrawals 94, 121, 122, 132, 135, 141, 170 

vacancies 121, 122, 132, 135, 141, 169, 170 

in case of any error, irregularity, etc 166, 172 

court decison relative to errors, etc 166 

Nomination Papers for use in Elections 

provisions applying 198-210 

objections 204, 205 

withdrawals 206, 207, 209 

vacancies 207-209 

Notices 

relating to primaries 98, 113, 130, 142, 

relating to caucuses 144, 145, 146, 152, 153, 157, 160, 162 

Oaths 

to be taken when voter is challenged 146 

Objections (see nomination papers) 

Penalties 

on officers 434-450 

on voters 451-456 

general 457-501 

enforcement of provisions 502 

Plurality of vote cast 

determines a nomination of election 93, 98. 113, 128, 142, 148 

Political Committees 88-91 

defined 1 

state committee 88 

city, ward or town committees 88 

may make rules and regulations 92 

Political party 

defined 1 

Polls 

provisions for opening and closing in primaries 115 

in caucuses 154, 177 

Primary 

defined 1 

Primaries 

when held 07 

provisions applying to all 93-112 

provisions applying to state 113-127 

provisions applying to city and town 128-137 

provisions applying to presidential 138-142 

for a special election 07 

Primary Officers 

designation of, etc 100-102 

114 



INDEX. 

Section 
Qualification of Voters 12 

condensed statement Appendix 

Recounts 

in primaries 98, 99 

in caucuses 150, 155, 181 

Registration of Voters 35-59 

Rules and Regulations 

may be made by political committees 92 

State Convention 

provisions relating to 126 

State Election 

when held 277 

officers elected in 1913 116 

State Committee 

election, etc 88, 92, 113 

Smoking, etc. 

prohibited at primary, caucus, election, etc 288 

penalty 493 

Town Committees 

election, etc 89, 91, 92, 113 

Tie Votes 69, 125, 148, 151 

Two Leading Parties 

denned 1 

Supervisors of Registration 

appointment and duties 59 

Vacancies 

caused by withdrawals, etc 121, 122, 135, 141, 170 

caused by ties 125, 151 

in other cases 125 

See nomination papers. 
Voter 

defined 1 

Voting Lists 

furnished for use in caucuses 67, 147, 174 

for use in primaries ' 109 

Voting Machines 116 

Ward Committees 

election duties, etc 89, 90, 91 

Withdrawals 

See nomination papers. 



115 



ADDENDA. 



Voting Machine. 

Section 251. The mayor and aldermen of a citj r . or t!ie 
body corresponding thereto, or a town, may, at a meeting 
held at least thirty days before the primary or election at 
which the voting machines are to be used, determine upon 
and purchase one or more voting machines approved as pro- 
vided in section two hundred and forty-nine, and order the 
use thereof at primaries and elections of state, city or town 
officers in such city or town; and thereafter at all primaries 
and election of state, city or town officers in such city or 
town, until otherwise ordered by the aldermen in a city, or 
the board corresponding thereto, and the selectmen in a 
town, said machines shall be used a.t primaries and for the 
purpose of voting for the officers to be elected at such elec- 
tions and for taking the vote upon the question of granting 
licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors and upon other 
questions submitted to the voters. In Boston, the power to 
determine upon, purchase and order the use of voting ma- 
chines shall be vested in a board consisting of the election 
commissioners and the mayor; and the expense so incurred 
shall be deemed an expense of the election department of the 
city; and the machines so purchased shall be used at pri- 
maries and elections in that city until otherwise ordered by 
said commissioners. Machine purchased by be paid for either 
by appropriation, by the issue and sale of bonds, or by the 
issue and delivery of certificates of indebtedness or other 
negotiable obligations, of such amounts and payable at 
such times as shall be determined by the board of officers 
purchasing the machines. 

For polling places in which voting machines are to be 
used no ballot boxes or ballots shall be furnished. 
116 



ADDENDA. 

Officers to be Elected at the Annual State Election in 1913, 
as Provided in Sections 379, 383, 385, 387. 

A governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of the common- 
wealth, treasurer and receiver general, auditor of the com- 
monwealth, and attorney-general; by the voters in each 
councillor district, one councillor; by the voters in each sen- 
atorial district, one senator; and by the voters in each rep- 
resentative district, such number of representatives as the 
district is entitled to elect. 

A district attorney in each of the districts into which the 
commonwealth is divided, for the administration of criminal 
law. A register of probate and insolvency in each county. 

In the county of Middlesex and of the towns of Revere 
and Winthrop, one county commissioner for said county and 
towns, and by the voters of each of the other counties, ex- 
cept the counties of Suffolk and Nantucket, one county com- 
missioner for the county. 

In the county of Middlesex and of the towns of Revere and 
Winthrop, two associate commissioners for said county and 
towns, and by the voters of each of the other counties, except 
the counties of Suffolk and Nantucket two associate com- 
missioners for the county. 

Not more than one of the county commissioners and asso- 
ciate commissioners shall be chosen from the same city or 
town. If two persons residing in the same city or town 
shall appear to have been chosen to said offices, the person 
only who receives the larger number of votes shall be de- 
clared elected; but if they shall receive an equal number of 
votes, no person sliall be declared elected. If a person resid- 
ing in a city or town in which a county commissioner or an 
associate commissioner who is to remain in office also resides, 
shall appear to have been chosen, he shall not be declared 
elected. If the person is not declared elected by reason of 
the above provisions, the person receiving the next highest 
117 



ADDENDA. 

number of votes for the office, and who resides in another 
city or town, shall be declared elected. 

Section 391. District attorneys, county commissioners, 
associate commissioners and county treasurers shall hold 
their several offices for terms of three years, and sheriffs, reg- 
isters of deeds, clerks of the courts and registers of probate 
and insolvency for terms of five years, beginning with the 
first Wednesday of January in the year succeeding their re- 
spective elections and until their successors are chosen and 
qualified. 

Section 392. District attorneys, registers of deeds and 
county treasurers shall be residents of the counties or dis- 
tricts for which thev are chosen. 



LBN 13 






LAW 



alificat: 



POLITICAL £5, 

PRIMARIES AND CAUCUSES. 

CONVENTIONS AND THE 

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES, 




WITH AN APPENDIX 

Containing Information Relative to 

ELECTION DISTRICTS, NATURALIZATION, ETC, 

*9*3 



Compiled by 
RICHAKD L. GAY 

Beaeon Street, Boston 



